24 Day's 'till Christmas Oneshot Collection
by MLFanfiction
Summary: I know some days in december had passed... but I got this Fanfiction account a bit later... anyways its basically a oneshot a day starting from december 1 till december 24. main ship will be the love square but other ships will appear as well.
1. Day 1: SOS Present Disaster

**Day 1: S.O.S Present Disaster**

Alya looked at the paper she had drawn out of the bowl a few weeks ago. She had hoped for Marinette's name or even Adrien would have been fine, but of course she had to draw out her boyfriend's name. Which mean she couldn't just give him some body lotion and deodorant, like she would had done if it was Adrien's name on the paper. No, it meant she had to come up a gift that he really wanted and / or had a lot meaning.

She had tried to figure out if there was something Nino really wanted to have without being too suspicious about it. However, she didn't had any success as it seems that Nino already had everything he wanted to have.

And so she found her way to the Agreste mansion, hoping that her boyfriend's best friend could help her get something for him.

"Hello?" A female voice said once some camera had come out of the wall and was aimed on her.

"Hello, is Adrien home?" Alya asked

"I'm sorry but fans aren't allowed be around the mansion. Have a good day."

"Wait. I'm not a fan, I'm Alya. I'm in Adrien's class and we're partner for a project that has to be done after the Christmas vacation." Alya said quickly.

"I see… come on in. I'll bring you to Adrien."

The camera disappeared into the wall and the doors of the front garden opened. Alya walked towards the front door. She had been here a few times before, but the huge garden and mansion still impressed her. Once she reached the front door, she saw Adrien's father's assistant Nathalie.

"Adrien is in his room right now. You can follow me." she said professionally.

Alya followed her quietly. Nathalie seems like a kind woman if you really knew her, but if you weren't close she looked rather like an intimidating strong women. Even Alya and her journalistic skills couldn't stand a chance to have a conversation with her.

Nathalie had knocked on the door of Adrien's room before she opened the door and walked in, Alya following quietly.

"Adrien, your classmate Alya is here to work on your school project." Nathalie announced.

Adrien looked confused for a split second as they didn't have gotten any homework that needed to be finished after the holidays. Alya hoped Nathalie wouldn't notice it. Adrien soon enough confirmed it that they were project partners before Nathalie could even suspect anything. School projects had often been the lie the group of friends used when they wanted to hang out with Adrien.

"Adrien you need to help me." Alya pleaded her friend once Nathalie had left. "I don't know what to buy as a present."

"You know the thing with secret Santa is that you don't tell anyone, let alone go straight to the person who you have on your note." Adrien said as he placed his book back on the shelf.

Alya looked at him in confusion by the conclusion he had made.

"I'm not talking about a gift for you… I'm talking about the gift for Nino. I don't know what to get him, so please help me…"

"He's your boyfriend… Aren't you supposed to know what to get him? I mean Marinette is my girlfriend and I was able to get her something." Adrien held his hand in front of his mouth when he noticed his slip up. "I didn't mean to say that…"

"You're lucky… Marinette is never too hard to shop for…" Alya mumbled. "I know that Nino is my boyfriend and that I should know what to get, but now he is my boyfriend, I'm expected to get something he really wants or something super sentimental… Adrien please help me…"

"Okay, okay don't worry I'll help you." Adrien said and chuckled.

Alya happily thanked him and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him in a tight hug.

"There isn't much Nino wants." Adrien began once Alya let go of her. "But there is one thing he had been going on and on about around me. The Z-Jay tablet. Its three tablets connected with each other, and can be used to make music with. He had been saving up money for it, but had complained about it that it takes to long for him to get all the money because he recently lost his part time job at Starbucks."

"How much is that Z-Jay tablet?"

"A little more than 600 Euro, if I say it correctly."

Alya looked at Adrien with widened eyes. How could she not come up with that herself? Nino had told her about it a few times, he even showed some promo videos of the Z-Jay tablet.

"I know it's expensive, but other than that he hasn't been really talking about anything else he wants to have, except for a new PlayStation 4 because his broke last week."

"Where can I buy this Z-Jay tablet?"

"You're seriously going to buy it?"

"I am, I've been saving money for a surprise vacation to Austria with Marinette since last year. I'm planning to take her with me next year so she finally got to go skiing for the first time in her life. So I got enough money." Alya said with a smile. "I just want to make him happy."

"I understand, I got the same with Marinette and her present. Anyways, you can buy the Z-Jay tablet at the music store at des Champs Elysées."

"Thank you Adrien! You're a lifesaver!" Alya said before she walked back to the door. "I got to go now. I need to buy Nino's present!"

With that Alya left the room. She ran down the stairs towards the front door, telling Nathalie who she saw on her way to the exit that there was an emergency and had to leave. Once she was outside she rushed towards the nearest subway station to get to des Champs Elysées. Once she was there she had rushed to the music store there to get her boyfriend's present.

What she didn't know was that her boyfriend was struggling with the same gift struggles.

Ever since Nino had drawn out Alya's note from the bowl he had been living dilemmas every single day. He simply didn't know what to get her. Should he go for a necklace? Something Ladybug related? Something for her phone? A new camera? Cloths? A subscription for her favorite magazine? Make her a song? Take her to a concert? Or should he get her cute house slippers? He had no idea what do get her. He wanted his gift for her to be perfect and meaningful.

Christmas was in just a few days and so in his panic he had found his way to Marinette's parent's bakery. He hoped he would be able to find her there since he really needs her help.

The bakery was pretty crowded, which was to be expected with Christmas being just around the corner. He waited for Sabine to help the other customers before he got to the counter.

"Good morning." Marinette's mother greeted Nino from behind the counter.

"Good morning Mrs. Cheng." He greeted her back.

"How can I help you?"

"I was wondering if Marinette's here. I need to ask her something."

"Marinette's in the back helping her father baking, I'll get her for you." she said with a friendly smile.

Sabine turned around and walked towards the back door. She called out for Marinette, letting her know there was someone to see her.

A few minutes later Marinette walked out of the kitchen. She had put her hair up in a high ponytail and there was some flour here and there in her hair as well as on her cheek. She still wore her apron that was quite dirty because of all the baking stuff she has used, from flour to egg white to butter to chocolate drizzle.

"Hi Nino, how are you?" she greeted.

"Hi, it could have been better."

"Why so?" she asked, slightly worried.

"I can't decide what to get Alya for secret Santa."

"I'm not supposed to know about that either, you know."

"I know but I'm really desperate at the moment… So if you got the time… can you please help me pick something?" Nino asked.

"I'll ask my father if I can be missed for a few minutes." Marinette said.

She then turned around and walks back into the kitchen of the bakery. A few seconds later she came out again, this time without the apron.

"We can talk upstairs in the living room."

Once they were upstairs and seated on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate. Nino told her his dilemma and all the gifts he couldn't choose between, while drinking his hot chocolate.

"You should go for a bracelet, and I happen to know what kind she really wants to have." Marinette said as she took a sip of her drink before she put her mug on the coffee table and took her phone to type something in Google. "This."

Nino took her phone in his hands and looked at the image of two bracelets. It were Ladybug and Chat Noir themed couple bracelets. The Ladybug bracelet had a charm on it like Ladybug's yo-yo, the red part of the charm where small ruby gemstones and the spots were from small black spinel gemstones. The Chat Noir themed bracelet was a cat paw that was mostly from small black spinel gemstones, the paw print of it was from small emerald gemstones. Both bracelets could either have a silver, gold or platinum chain. Nino guesses that you could pick the color of the chains. Once he had seen the pictures he had given Marinette her phone back.

"Those are the Limited edition Ladybug and Chat Noir couple bracelets. She wanted to have them for quite some time now, but she didn't wanted to push you in wearing nor did she want to ignore its purpose of being a couple bracelets and walk with both." Marinette explained.

"I don't mind walking around with the Chat Noir one. They are really beautiful. How much are they?"

Marinette closed the photos and scrolled down the mobile web page until she got the price.

"300 Euro for both." Marinette answered, taking her mug back in her hands and continued to drink.

"Oh my… that's pretty pricey…" Nino said as he heard the price.

"It's from Gabriel, so it's not that surprising that the price is so high. Maybe you can ask Adrien for help to get those?"

"No, no, no. I will buy it myself." Nino said. "Thanks a lot for helping me out, Marinette."

"You're welcome." Marinette said as she stood up. "I have to go back to the bakery now and I guess that you need to go to the store know."

"Yeah, that's right."

Nino stood up from the couch as well. Both brought their empty mugs to the kitchen before leaving the house. Marinette went back to help her parents while Nino went straight to a Gabriel store to get the bracelets.

Once Nino got the bracelets he couldn't wait to see Alya's face when she will open her present. He wasn't the only one because Alya couldn't wait for Nino to open her present either.


	2. Day 2: The Gifts Of Their Dreams

Marinette pulled the baking plate with the fresh baked cookies out of the oven. It was 7pm and she had an hour left before her friends would arrive. This year they would spent their Christmas at her place, changing out their secret Santa gifts.

Her parents were out tonight to enjoy some Christmas dinner party together and probably wouldn't come back home until midnight. So they had the place for themselves, which was great because Marinette didn't have to worry about her parents trying to embarrass her by telling her friends and boyfriend embarrassing stories of her childhood like they did a few years ago.

They told them a story of how she as a kid made a mess of the kitchen when she was five years old. Back then she tried to make Christmas cookies with her mother, but ended up getting the bowl with the ingredients on top of her head. She was completely white due to the flour and the raw eggs dripped down her her hair, over her face until it eventuality landed on the floor. Due to the fall of the bowl some of the flour had been spread into the air and landed on some different places onto the floor as well.

Worst part was that her parents even showed them a picture of the event. On the picture was Marinette standing completely in shock and complete white, the bowl was still on top of her head and her eyes were widened as well as on the edge of starting to cry. Alya simply made a joke that she already had her clumsiness at such a young age and Nino joined in a few seconds later, joking along with Alya.

However Adrien stayed quiet, as he probably didn't knew how to react at that time. Marinette was worried that he thought she was stupid or something, but he later told her she looked pretty cute as a five year old with flour, sugar, butter and raw eggs all over her.

"Marinette can I have one of those cookies?" Tikki asked, causing Marinette to get back from her thoughts.

"Actually they are for tonight Tikki." Marinette said.

Tikki pouted lightly before she looked at her holder with puppy eyes so she could get one. After all she knew that Marinette can't take it up to the puppy eyes, it was her weakness.

"Okay you can have one cookie, just one. I need the others for tonight."

Tikki squeaked in delight before she flew towards the baking plate to take a cookie. Marinette wanted to warn her that the plate was still very hot, but to her surprise it didn't had any effect on Tikki as she was able to pick it up easily and eat it right away like the cookie was just room temperature.

After Marinette had decorated the cookies she started to clean up the living room. It wasn't that messy, she just cleaned some of the dust form the shields, vacuum cleaned the floor and shook up the pillows. After that she placed the present she got for Adrien under the Christmas tree.

It was 7:50 when the doorbell rang. Marinette got to the door as soon as she could, as she was in the middle of applying her makeup. She had changed into a beautiful little black dress that had a little bit of silver glitters on the fabric and already had put on some subtle Smokey eye shadow and a winged eyeliner. All that was left for her to do was adding some lipstick and some glitter by her eyes.

She opened the door to reveal Alya who was standing there with a big winter coat on and a tick scarf. She didn't wore a knit hat like she normally would have with the cold weather, but Marinette guessed that that must be because she had put her hair up in a high ponytail.

"You're early." Marinette said as she opened the door further to let her friend inside.

"Of course I am. You should know that by now." Alya laughed as she walked in.

She took of her coat and scarf before she hung it at the coat rack. She was wearing a red strapless dress with an A-line skirt that came just above her knees.

"Do you want something to drink?" Marinette asked as they walked towards the living room.

"Hot chocolate would be nice. It's pretty cold outside."

Marinette nodded before she walked towards the open kitchen that was connected to their living room and began to make two cups of hot chocolate.

"by the way, you can put your present under the tree." she said as she placed two empty cups on the kitchen counter.

"Okay." Alya said before walking towards the Christmas tree and placed her present for Nino next to Marinette's present.

Once she finished the drinks she placed it on the coffee table together with a plate with the decorated cookies. She then excused herself for a moment to get the last bits of makeup done quickly. Alya let her go do that, but not after making a playful remark that she shouldn't get any more pretty or else Adrien would melt into a puddle because of her hotness.

A few minutes later Marinette came back into the living room and took her seat next to Alya on the couch. They chatted a bit as they both drunk their chocolate milk until the doorbell rang once again.

Marinette stood up and walked to the door she greeted both Nino and Adrien once she had opened it. Both were wearing thick winter coats. Both guys took of their coats and hung it on the coat rack before they all walked towards the living room. They both were wearing neat pants, a button up shirt and a tie that matched the color of their girlfriend's dress.

Marinette had asked them if they wanted to drink something, as well as told them that they could put their presents under the tree. She took Alya's and her own cup from the table for a refill and brought them towards the kitchen. There she took two new cups from the cabinet and then started to prepare four hot chocolates. Nino had already taken his seat next to his girlfriend, while Adrien joined his girlfriend in the kitchen.

"Need an help, beautiful?" he asked as he watched her pour the warm milk into the cups before she added the chocolate powder.

"If you could help me carry it to the coffee table that would be very nice, Handsome." she said with a light blush on her face.

Adrien complimenting her still had an effect on her, but ever since they started dating it wasn't that worse like it was when she was just crushing on him. She also knew that when she complimented Adrien, it has an effect on him. So when they both complemented each other they would end up acting like two awkward potatoes, or well that's how their best friends would call their behavior in that situation.

The two took each two cups in their hands before they walked to the coffee table and placed it on its surface. The group of friends drunk their hot chocolate, ate some of the cookies and chatted about their other holiday plans for quite some time.

"I love chatting with you all but we should start doing the presents." Alya said after a while, the excitement of how Nino will be reacting to her present for him had gotten to much.

"right we should. I will get the dice to decide who will be picking the first present." Marinette said and stood up.

She quickly rushed up stairs to her room to get the big bright yellow dice. Once she got it and gave it to Alya to roll it first. The dice rolled over the table before it landed on five. After that it was Adrien's turn who threw three. Then it was Nino's turn to roll the dice, which ended on six. Last but not least it was Marinette's turn, if she threw six, she and Nino had to do a rematch, however her luck wasn't there tonight as the dice landed on one.

Nino cheered before he stood up and picked a present randomly. They had a rule to not pick the gift they had bought themselves so he had to wait until someone else would pick his gift for Alya.

"Marinette." Nino read out loud from the name tag that was attached to the big box that was wrapped around in Rudolf the red nosed reindeer wrapping paper.

Marinette took the present from Nino and placed it on her lap. She then ripped the wrapping paper away, revealing a plain box. She looked bit confused at it before she opened the lid of the box. Her eyes widened and a huge smile appeared on her face.

"Look at all those satin fabrics." she exclaimed as she took ever fabric out of the box. "It's so smooth and soft and the colors are so pretty. And some of them look like the Gabriel fabrics he used last season, seriously I can make so many new dresses with those fabrics."

Adrien smiled at her reaction. He had picked the color's himself from his father's stockroom. It had taken him a few days to get through all the satin fabrics, as his father had a lot of fabrics. He was glad that Marinette only wanted to have high quality satin, if the kind of fabric didn't matter it probably had taken weeks to choose all the colors he wanted to give her. The cutting of all the fabrics took one and a half day.

"Actually it's official Gabriel satin." Adrien said, revealing himself that he was her secret Santa.

The secret Santa would always reveal themselves after their gift got opened, this because none of them could wait till the end to let them know about it.

"Oh my gosh, Adrien thank you so much! Is your father okay with it." She exclaimed when she hugged him tightly.

"It took some time but eventually I got him so far that he would have even allowed me to take some of every fabric in his stockroom if I wanted to…"

Adrien smiled as Marinette snuggled close to him while thanking him over and over again with a big smile on her face. That behavior was her way of showing she really liked something, and to Adrien that was the most adorable thing in the world.

"How did you even made your old man agree to that?" Nino asked in surprise. He had been at Adrien's place a lot and he knew that his best friend's father was even colder than the North Pole towards others.

"I've brought my mother up... I told him I love Marinette means just as much to me as my mother means to my father." Adrien said as a light blush appear on his cheeks. "After that he gave me the key almost immediately together with a notebook so I could write down how much I took from each color and kind of fabric. He also told me I could take as much as I wanted."

"Wow I can't believe you manipulate your own father." Alya Laughed.

"Ah well It's not like he never did that to me." he said sheepishly. "Anyways Marinette, it's your turn to pick a present."

Marinette stood up and walked towards the tree, she kneeled down in front of it and took the thinnest presents that was that was wrapped around in snowmen themed wrapping paper in her hand before she stood back up straight.

"Nino." she read from the name tag.

She walked over to him and handed it to him before she took her seat next to Adrien again. Nino ripped the wrapping paper off, stopping abruptly when he recognized a little piece of the image of the box.

"No way. No. Freaking. Way." he exclaimed. "No, this can't be true."

He ripped the paper further off until everything was gone. On top of his lap laid the Z-Jay tablet he wanted to have for such a long time. He carefully opened the box and there it was the DJ gadget of his dreams. He pinched himself to see if it was a dream, but he didn't wake up. The smile grew bigger on his face as tears of happiness began to roll down his cheeks.

"I can't believe this is real… How…?" he said between his sniffs.

Alya smiled taking the box with the tablet from his lap and placing it on the table before pulled her boyfriend in a hug.

"I can understand you still need to let it sink in, but believe me it's real. I should know that of all people, since I've been to the store, I've got the receipt and a bank account that has become a bit emptier." She said sweetly.

"You bought it?" he asked as he looked up at Alya, Alya just nodded. "But it's so expensive."

"It was, but it was totally worth the money to make you so happy."

"You're the best Alya."

He pressed a quick kiss on top of her lips before he quickly wiped the happy tears away and got to the tree to pick out a present. He took the only present that was left that wasn't his own. It was a present that felt very soft and was wrapped around in snowflake wrapping paper.

"Adrien." he read out loud form the name tag.

He then walked towards Adrien and gave him the present. He then got back to his seat after he took two Christmas cookies with him, handing one to Alya. Adrien ripped the paper off and picked it up to hold it into the air for a better view. It was a Ladybug onesie. He then hugged the fabric as he had brought it close to him. The fleece fabric was very soft and must be warm too. He had complained a bit to Marinette that his room was always so cold in the winter, and didn't really warm up that well due to the size of his room. She had mentioned before that she could make a onesie if he wanted that.

"I'm glad you seem to like it." Marinette said with a smile.

"Like it? I love it! It's perfect! Thank you so much." Adrien said before he pressed a kiss on Marinette's cheek.

Adrien then fold the onesie and placed it next to him on the couch before he went to the Christmas tree to pick up the last present. It was a small box wrapped in luxurious wrapping paper. Wrapping paper he knew quite well, as he had seen it quite sometimes used in his father's store.

"Alya." he read from the name tag, even though there weren't any more left.

He walked towards Alya and handed her the present, before he took a seat next to Marinette. Alya ripped the paper off from the box, revealing a rectangle black box with the Gabriel logo on top of it. She smiled brightly as she opened the box and saw the Ladybug and Chat Noir Couple bracelets lying inside the box.

"A little bird told me that you wanted to have those for us as a couple item to wear, but you didn't wanted to force it on me." Nino said as Alya was still looking in awe at the bracelets. "But I wouldn't mind to wear one."

"You really wouldn't mind?" she asked as she looked at Nino.

Nino nodded in reply. Alya's smile turned even bigger before she tackle hugged him just like Marinette had done when she had gotten her gift.

"We should make so many pictures of those bracelets for the Ladyblog as well as for my personal Instagram and Facebook so I can let everyone know that I got the best boyfriend ever." she exclaimed.

Nino chuckled, his girlfriend was so adorable.

"We will do that." he said as he patted her head.

The rest of the night was mainly focusing on the presents they had gotten. Adrien had put his onesie on and sat on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate as he watch Marinette who was leaning against him sketch away in her sketch book as she tried to come up with a dress design that was worth it to be made out of official Gabriel fabrics.

Alya and Nino had made a bunch of pictures of their couple bracelets in different kind of settings. A few pictures were they held hands a few where they were about to pick up their cups with hot chocolate and so on. After the whole shoot they found their way back to the couch Alya snuggled close to Nino as she watch him try things out on his new Z-Jay tablet. Both had one earphone in their ear to listen to the sound.

They all agreed that it was a peaceful and very fun Christmas and couldn't wait until next year to be together like this again.


	3. Day 3: A Girl That Won't Give Up Easily

It was a cold December evening, the wind blow softly as snow fell slowly to the ground. It was colder than last year, but none of the carolers let that stop them from singing at each front door. Or well almost every front door.

"Emilie, we're not going to try and sing for that Mr. Scrooge. He was never home anyways, and his house doesn't scream Christmas at all." one of the carolers said.

He was talking about Mr. Agreste. Every year he wasn't home when they were Caroling, so eventually when they saw that the lights were off they didn't even try anymore. However this time it was different. The lights were on for a change.

"But André, the lights are on. So that means he is home." Emilie said hopefully.

"Or he just forgot to turn them off before leaving the house."

"Just let her try. There might be a small chance he would open the door, although that chance is very small… we can go off to another house while she tries to carol for Mr. Scrooge."

"Thanks Nathalie!"

With that Emilie left the group and walked towards the house. The house was quite big, had white walls, black roof tiles, a front garden that was very neat and of course no Christmas decorations. She walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell.

Gabriel sat down at his kitchen table that stood in the living room. He was working on a design for one of his costumers, he had opened commissions a year ago right before he turned 27, when suddenly the doorbell rang. He placed the just drawn pattern and scissors back onto the surface of the table.

He then walked towards the kitchen so he could see who was at the door through the kitchen window. At his door stood a blonde girl, who was probably around his age. She was wearing a dark green coat on top of her dark red dress with a tartan pattern all over it, on top of her head was one of those old fashioned hats which stayed in place by the ribbon that got laced under the chin, women used to wear those kind 100 or so years ago. Her whole look was like she just walked out of a Christmas house or something.

"Shit…" Gabriel cursed once he realized that today was the evening those people sang for some charity. He totally forgot about it.

He quickly wanted to leave the kitchen before she spotted him, but of course luck wasn't on his side. As the girl waited she looked around and happens to catch his glance. Her face lit up the moment she saw Gabriel. He had no idea why, but nonetheless it was adorable.

Gabriel took the string of the blinds that hung above the window and pulled at it, in no time the blinds fell down to the window sill. He heard the girl let out a groan in annoyance. He let out a sigh in relief, the girl would probably leave now.

Gabriel walked back to the living room. He walked past the calendar, the date of today being marked with the text 'Evening caroling'. He let out a sigh how could he forget it? They always went from door to door on Christmas Eve.

Gabriel never really had anything with the whole Christmas holidays. His parents never did anything with it, they only saw it as something commercial. Due to that Gabriel had the same view on the whole holiday as his parents did. Some people thought he was weird for not celebrating it but he never felt like there was something missing in the December month. The caroling volunteers even gave him the nickname Mr. Scrooge as that character who hated Christmas of the care about that.

He never hated Christmas, he just doesn't celebrate it. The only reason he began to pretend not being home lots of years ago was because the first time this caroling group showed up at his door they kind of acted like he was less than them only because he didn't do anything with the holidays. After that he just didn't wanted to do anything with them again and pretended not to be home whenever they would carol in the neighborhood. However he never saw this cute blonde girl with them. He guessed she must have joined them after the whole incident.

Loud knocking on the door and vague shouting in the background brought Gabriel back from his thoughts. He turned around on his heels and stormed back to the kitchen window, once he stood in front of it he lifted one of the blinds up so he could look outside. The blonde was still there, she was hitting the door with her fist as she tried to get Gabriel's attention.

"Mister Agreste! Don't you dare to pretend you're not home! I saw your ugly face myself so I'm not leaving until I sang my songs!" the blonde shouted.

Gabriel let go of the blind and took a step back. He starred in front of him, a bit confused. Did that girl just called him ugly? Normally he only heard from others he was gifted with such good looks. But ugly? No one has ever said that to him.

He shook his head, shaking the confusion away. He turned the light off in the kitchen before he walked towards his living room which was part located at the front of the house. He then quickly pulled the curtains to each other, blocking the view. And he turned the lights off before he took a seat on his leather couch.

Emilie who was standing outside couldn't believe it that Mr. Agreste just tries to pretend he wasn't home while she had seen him. She took a deep breath before she walked to right side of his house. The house didn't had any neighbor's house connecting to it so his front garden connected to the back garden.

Much to Gabriel's surprise there was knocking on a window he hadn't closed the curtains of that didn't face the front garden. He stood up from the couch and walked towards the window.

"Don't you dare to close that curtain!" she said.

"If I just give you money for whatever charity you're collecting money for, would you then leave?" Gabriel asked slightly annoyed.

He knew that the girl could easily hear him due to the fact he kept the most of the small top windows open for fresh air. No matter how cold the weather got in the cold winter months, he kept them open. He didn't got cold quickly anyways and the fresh air always help him to work better on his designs.

"I won't leave until I sang at least one song for you." the girl said.

"I'm not interested in such nonessential holiday and everything that got something to do with it." Gabriel stated in a matter of fact.

The girl looked at him with big eyes in surprise. She tried to say something but she just couldn't come out of her words, it seems she was too surprised by Gabriel's words.

Gabriel's corners of his lips lifted up slightly in a small smile. Could this girl get even cuter? She was cute when mad, when she was surprised, damn she was just cute in general.

"Why?" she asked after a while.

"Never celebrated it and I'm not interested in ever celebrate it." he said.

With that he closed the curtains. He then walked to the other curtains of the windows of his living room. He soon noticed that the girl kept following him, she didn't gave up easily much to Gabriel's annoyance. He just wanted to finish his design.

Just as he was about to close the last pair of curtains, he heard a squeak followed by the sound of something hitting the ground. Gabriel walked back to the curtains he had closed that hangs by the window of the door that lead to the garden and opened it again. There on the ground was the girl, it seems like she had slipped because of the snow that lay on the ground. He unlocked the door and opened it. He couldn't just let her be, what if she's hurt? He didn't want to be the one who let a girl with pain lie in his garden.

"Are you alright?" Gabriel asked as he stepped into the garden. "The back garden can get quite slippery at some places once it snowed."

Gabriel then reached out his hand to her to help her up. The girl looked up in surprise before she hesitantly took his hand. Gabriel pulled her back up onto her feet carefully.

"I'm fine… I think?" She said.

"You think? That doesn't sound certain." Gabriel said. "You can come in side and take a seat while I fix up your jacket."

"My jacket?"

"There is hole in it by your right elbow."

With that Gabriel walked inside and turned the light on. Emilie followed him slowly inside his house and closed the door behind her.

"That's very kind of you Mr. Agreste, but you don't have to do that."

"There is no way I will let you walk out with a hole in. Your jacket just let me patch it up for you. Also you could be injured by that fall." Gabriel said before he walked towards the table and took out the small first aid kit that was inside his sewing kit.

Emilie took off her jacket, revealing her bare shoulders. The dress she wore under the jacket was white above the skirt part of the dress and had puffed balloon shaped sleeves that were off-shoulder, the neckline of the dress was decorated with a red ribbon that matched the color of the skirt. She then took a seat on the couch, placing the jacket on top of her lap as she had no idea where to put it.

"Can I see your elbow?" Gabriel asked once he had kneeled down in front of her.

Emilie nodded and turned her elbow so Gabriel could have a better look.

"There is a small wound, it's nothing too serious but it would be good idea to clean it." he said as he took a cotton pad, some disinfectant and a plaster before he put a bit of the disinfectant on the cotton pad. "This might sting a bit."

He dabbed the cotton pad carefully on the wound, once it was clean he put the plaster on top of it. Emilie thanked him with a soft smile, before she gave him her jacket. Gabriel took it from her with a smile on his face, he couldn't really help it but there was something about this girl that made him want to smile, and that while he didn't even know her name.

Emilie looked around, now noticing the patterns, papers with designs, a measurement tape, his sewing machine and some fabric that was lying on the table, while Gabriel took his seat at the table. She saw how he was looking for the right color tread, all concentrated in his work.

"I'm sorry that I interrupted your work time…" She said as she looked down at her hands that rested on her lap, she felt quite guilty that she ruined his peaceful evening.

"It's fine, it's just some simple dress design for a customer's Christmas party she will be attending tomorrow. I'll be able to finish it by tonight." Gabriel said as he pushed the tread through the eye of the needle.

"But still… I'm sorry… I'm also sorry for saying you have an ugly face… when I'm mad, I say things I don't mean… I hope I didn't offend you..."

"Don't worry you didn't, I was only surprised about you saying that to me."

"And I'm sorry I was shouting, knocking your door like a mad woman and for entering your garden without permission… to be honest I'm quite surprised you didn't call the police on me…"

"Normally, I would have done that."

Emilie looked up with a nervous look in her eyes.

"You… you would? Why am I the exception?" she asked.

"Because you're cute." Gabriel said bluntly.

However he blushed madly as he realized what he had just said. His heart raced and he began to stumble over his words as he tried to explain himself. This wasn't really a success as it only made him more nervous and caused him to stab himself in his finger with the needle by accident.

Meanwhile Emilie was as red as a tomato. She didn't know how to react to it. Her heart was racing and butterflies flew through her stomach. Once she saw Gabriel for the first time she did thought of him as attractive, but she never thought he would think of her like that.

The two stayed quiet and waited for the awkward vibe to go away, there was no sound in the room except for the clock ticking in the background.

"Um…" Gabriel wanted to call out her name once he had finished her jacket. "I never got your name."

"It's Emilie." She said.

"That's a pretty name, you have."

"Thank you… may I know yours?"

"Of course… it's Gabriel."

Gabriel stood up and walked over to Emilie to hand back her jacket.

"It's all fixed." He said.

"Thank you so much." She said as she took it back. "I should probably go now, the group must be worried about me for staying gone for so long."

Emilie then stood up, put on her jacket and walked towards the door that lead to the garden. She didn't want to invade more of Gabriel's privacy, so she decided to leave through the same way she came in.

"Emilie, wait." Gabriel called out. "Do you… do you want to meet up some time?"

"I would love to, but I'll be quite busy the following days…" she said.

"I see…"

"But I do have some time tomorrow evening between the songs we will be singing… I know it isn't much but I would love to see you again. I know you don't celebrate it but it's the only option I have for now."

"I'll be there."

Emilie smiled brightly at him when she heard he was going to be there tomorrow.

"Thank you. I will see you tomorrow then, Gabriel."

"See you tomorrow, Emilie."

She gave him one more smile before she left the house happily, leaving Gabriel behind with a loving smile on his face and butterflies in his stomach.


	4. Day 4: I'm Glad It Was You

It wasn't how Marinette had expected to celebrate her Christmas. A Christmas themed Akuma had thrown her flying through the city and caused her to land uncomfortably between a wall and a dumpster. Her head, back and arm hurts. She tried to get out of it, but without success. Her trying had only caused her to feel even more pain then she already did. She let out a sigh as she waited for someone to get her out of there.

"My Lady?" Chat Noir called out as he got near the alley he had seen his lady flew off too.

"I'm here!" Ladybug shouted, hoping he would hear her.

Chat Noir heard her calling and got towards the dumpster as soon as he could. He stepped onto the close dumpster, taking Ladybug's arm and tried to pull her out, however that only resulted in Ladybug crying out in pain. He let go immediately and apologized.

He got off the dumpster and called for his Cataclysm before he placed his hand on the dumpster, destroying it into dust. Ladybug fell same centimeters down onto the ground, she hissed in pain as she tried to rub the back of her head that had hit the wall once again when there was no dumpster that kept her from falling further down.

"Are you alright?" Chat Noir asked as he held out his hand.

"I'm alright… we need to defeat that Akuma and quick, you already used your Cataclysm so there isn't much time left…" Ladybug said as she took his hand and let him help her back up onto her feet.

She let out a hiss in pain, but walked passed Chat Noir before he could say anything. She had to purify that Akuma quickly.

"Lucky Charm!" she shouted as she threw her yo-yo into the air. A polka dotted item fell from above her. She caught it in her arms, causing her to hiss in pain. She took a deep breath, before she began to move back to the battlefield. She had to get through the pain for the sake of Paris.

Chat Noir followed her suit as she stumbled back. The battle was though especially since the Akuma was aiming on Ladybug due to the fact she was already in pain and so she was a weaker opponent.

"No more evil doing for you, little Akuma. It's time to de-evilize!" she said as she the her yo-yo at the purple butterfly, still biting through the pain. "Gotcha, bye bye little butterfly." The now white butterfly flew away into the sky. Ladybug then took her lucky charm item and threw it into the air as she shouted "Miraculous Ladybug!"

Everything got changed back to normal expect for her condition. Her earrings beeped, starting her 5 minute countdown. She was about to transform back, they both were. She had to leave, but she collapsed in pain when she tried to throw her yo-yo at some rooftop. Fortunately Chat Noir was still there and got down next to her on his knees in no time.

"Are you okay?" he asked with concern, ignoring the fact his ring has beeped for the third time already.

Ladybug just smiled weakly at him, she wanted to tell him he shouldn't worry about her and that she was fine. However the tears that she was desperately trying to keep in began to drip down her cheeks, the pain was just getting too much. Her earrings beeped again, signaling she had now four minutes left.

Chat Noir wrapped his arms around her and scooped her up in his arms, taking her bride style to a save place where no one could see them de-transform. Once he got to an alley, he carefully laid her onto the ground. He then sat down on the ground as well and let her head lean on his lap like it was a pillow.

His ring beeped again, he had just one minute left to get away, but there was no way he would leave ladybug behind like this nor could he bring her to a hospital. His ring beeped for the final time before a bright green light appeared. Ladybug looked shocked when she was face to face with Adrien.

"I'm sorry my lady, but I just couldn't leave you behind like this." Adrien said as he looked into her eyes.

Ladybug didn't know what to say and stayed there frozen on his lap, a bright blush spread over her cheeks. He decided to give her the time she needed to progress it all, and turned to his kwami.

"Plagg, do you know why Ladybug couldn't cure herself after the Akuma got purified?" he asked, hopefully his kwami knew what was wrong."

"How am I supposed to know that? I'm not Ladybug's kwami." Plagg answered.

"Hasn't something like this happen before, or something?"

"Not that I remember."

Adrien sighed, of course his kwami was no use. Maybe if he could meet Ladybug's kwami he could get an answer then. Ladybug's earrings beeped again, this time for the final time. A pink light appeared as Ladybug de-transformed.

Out of respect Adrien had thought about not looking at his lady but when he heard her cry out in pain between her sobs, he couldn't help but to try and help her feel better. He looked down at his lap. There was Marinette leaning her head onto his lap. Tears streamed down her cheeks, breaking Adrien's heart to see her like that. It was like the pain had gotten worse once she de-transformed.

"Hey, you're Ladybug's kwami right?" He asked the red floating creature that had appeared when Ladybug de-transformed. He needed an answer, maybe Tikki knew what he could do.

"That's correct." it said. "My name is Tikki."

"Has this happen before to any other Ladybugs?"

"It did… but the cause of it never got clear… even our guardian doesn't know why it happens…" Tikki said with a sad expression on her face. She then looked at her holder. "We should get her to the hospital as soon as we can."

Adrien nodded, he stood up and carefully helped Marinette onto her feet, trying not to hurt her too much in the progress.

"I know this might not be the less painful way to get you to the hospital, but I ran out of cheese and the streets are just too crowded and full of traffic to even call an ambulance." He said with a soft smile on his face, he then wiped a tear away with his thumb. "I'll make sure you'll get there as soon as possible, princess."

"Thank… Thank you Adrien…" She said weakly due to the pain.

Adrien bended through his knees in front of her, to let her know to get on his back. She carefully climbed onto his back, wrapping her arms around his neck. Once she was settled onto his back he began to run towards the nearest hospital. Dodging people in the crowded streets. Due to the Christmas festival that was being held on Christmas Eve. Some people gave them weird looks as Adrien rushed through the crowds, but he didn't care about that. He wouldn't even care if he would get into the newspapers because of this all. All he cared for what that Marinette got to see a doctor as soon as possible.

Marinette was still in pain when they finally got at the first AID. Fortunately there weren't that much people in the waiting room and so they got helped pretty quickly. Marinette had gotten some painkillers before she went to make some x-rays with the doctor. Adrien stayed by her side, pushing her around in a wheelchair to the different sections she needed to go to in the hospital.

"Do you want some tea?" Adrien asked as they were waiting in the waiting room for the results of the x-rays.

"Yes please." Marinette said.

"How much sugar do you want?"

"Three sugar."

"You sure have a sweet tooth don't you?" Adrien chuckled as he walked towards the machine.

"Well you have a thing for cheese."

"I do like some kind of cheese, but it's Plagg that really has a thing for cheese."

"So he was the reason why you always smelled like camembert?"

"Yeah… the price I have to pay to transform sure is high."

Marinette giggled, the painkillers she had taken were pretty strong and made it able for her to almost not feel the pain anymore. Adrien smiled at her when he handed her the cup of tea. He then made a cup of tea for himself as well before he took a seat on a chair that stood next to Marinette's wheelchair.

"Thank you for being her for me." Marinette said as she looked down at her cup with tea. "I'm glad to have you with me. It makes it easier to go through this all knowing there is someone I can talk to who really knows what happened."

"Of course I would be there for you, we're partners after all." Adrien said, looking at Marinette with a soft smile on his face. "You know… I'm glad it was you all along."

Marinette looked up at him, a slight blush starting to spread over her cheeks.

"You're amazing, you know that Marinette…"

"Thank you… I'm glad it was you too… I never thought that you would be the type that would make awful cat puns." She said and giggled.

"You mean clawful cat puns?" He said and chuckled.

"Oh shut up."

"Never."

Their laughter died down after a while. Both of them didn't really talk, there was a lot that had happened that evening so they both had no idea with what to address first. They enjoyed each other's present as they drunk their tea quietly.

Sometime has past when a doctor came to tell them that Marinette had broken her right wrist and some bruised ribs and was told to go to yet another section of the hospital to get her, her bandages and cast. They thanked the doctor before leaving to the other section.

Once there they greeted the nurse and went into the room with her. There Marinette got asked to put of her blazer, flower printed t-shirt and bra, so the nurse could put the bandages around her chest to give her bruised ribs some more support.

"Do you want me to leave?" Adrien asked, he didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable.

"It's alright… you can stay… just promise me not to look..." She said shyly.

"I promise."

Adrien stayed in the room, his back towards Marinette. He didn't look at Marinette the moment when she had to take off her shirt and waited until Marinette said he could turn around. The nurse bound the bandage around her upper body.

"You can turn around." Marinette said after a while.

Adrien turned around. Marinette's upper body had almost been wrapped in bandages completely, from her chest to just a belly button had been covered. She had her blazer draped over her shoulders so she wouldn't get that cold, while the nurse was already putting a cast around her wrist.

As the nurse was almost finished with Marinette, another doctor walked into the room.

"Good evening, Miss Dupain-Cheng." He said while holding a clipboard with some papers attached to it. "I'm here to take you up to your room. We want to have you stay for a few nights due to the fact you got a light concussion and we want to make sure it won't be worse."

"But it's Christmas tomorrow… I had plans with family." Marinette said.

"I'm very sorry." Doctor said. "Visiting hours are longer on Christmas day, so you won't be celebrate it alone, it will just be a little different."

Marinette looked down at her lap. There was nothing she could do, like she couldn't run away in her condition. She just had to accept it. The doctor pushed her out of the room after the nurse was done and Marinette had thanked her. Adrien walked close behind, not leaving Marinette on her own.

Once they got to her hospital room the doctor helped Marinette into her bed. He then left the room after he had told her what button she needs to press if she wants a nurse to get to her room and that a nurse will get to her with medicines later that night. He also told Adrien that visitor's hour would end in twenty minutes.

"I don't want you to leave me here in twenty minutes… This room feels so cold and lonely…" Marinette said as she looked at him. To Adrien she looked adorable, she was completely tucked under the covers and her head laid on a big soft pillow.

"I won't leave you tonight. I'll come back later once they sent me away." Adrien said as he took a seat on the edge of Marinette's hospital bed and ran his finger through her hair.

"Promise?" She asked as she closed her eyes because of his touch.

"I promise." Adrien said before he leaned in and pressed a soft kiss on her forehead.

Marinette could herself start to feel sleepy, the pain, the heavy painkillers and Adrien's fingers that run through her hair caused her to softly fall asleep. Adrien would have loved to talk with her some more, but he knew that all the events that had happened to her must had tired her out and that she needed some good night of sleep.

"Sir, visiting hour is over." the nurse said who walked in with some medication for Marinette to take. "I have to ask kindly to leave."

"Is it alright if I leave after she had gotten her medication. I don't think she would like it to wake up without having said goodbye to me."

"That's alright sir."

Adrien stood up from the bed to give the nurse her space. The nurse woke Marinette up softly. Telling her it was time for her medications for the night. Adrien saw how she searched for him before her expression softened. The nurse helped her to sit up so she could take her medicines. After she had taken them the nurse helped her to lie down again and tucked her in.

"You can say your goodbye now. I'll give you some privacy." The nurse said and then left the room.

Adrien walked over to the bed and took his seat on the edge of the bed again.

"Do you really have to leave, Chaton...?" Marinette asked.

"I'm sorry Bugaboo. I have to leave, but I'll be back soon. Make sure Tikki keeps an eye on that window." Adrien said and pointed towards the window. "I will be coming in through that one and I need someone to open it for me from inside."

Marinette nodded and smiled at him.

"When will you get back?"

"I'm not sure yet, I will let your parents know about your injuries first. Then I will let Nino and Alya know about it as well. After that all is done I will return here, but I don't want you to wait for me to return. You need to take enough rest and have enough sleep. But I promise you I will be there when you wake up."

"Okay…" Marinette said and pouted sadly.

"Don't be sad. I'll be here soon."

He cupped her cheek with his right hand as he leaned in, capturing her lips with his own in a soft kiss that was full of love. The kiss didn't last that long, as Adrien couldn't stay much longer.

"Good night Princess. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Good night Kitty."

Adrien pressed one last kiss on top of her forehead before he slipped off the bed and walked out of the room. He wished the nurse a good night before he walked towards the exit of the hospital.

When he was outside he called up the bakery, to let Marinette's parents know that their daughter was in the hospital. He had told them that he had found her injured after Ladybug and Chat Noir had beaten the Akuma and that he had brought her as soon as he could towards the hospital. He told them her condition, and that she had to stay for a few nights. Marinette's parents were in shock that something had happened to their daughter. Both worried and Sabine ended up crying. Adrien assured them that Marinette was in good hands and that she was doing better than when he just found her. He also told them that they can go visit her the next day with visitor's hour. Marinette's parents thanked him for helping their daughter as well for the fact he let them know what had happened before the call got ended.

Adrien then sent a detailed text to Nino and Alya to let them know what had happened. Alya was completely worried and angry about Hawk Moth for causing Marinette's injuring because of one of his Akuma's. However angry may had been an understatement, compared to all the text messages that came in where she basically just called Hawk Moth names. Nino's text wasn't that over emotional like Alya's. he simply wished her to feel better soon and let Adrien know that he would drop by the next day. Although the text was pretty laid back, Adrien knew that his friend was worried. Nino just wasn't always that good with his words.

"That wasn't the only plan you had before returning to Marinette, am I correct?" Plagg asked as he popped his head out of Adrien's coat pocket.

"That's correct. We're going Christmas shopping."

"Christmas shopping? Does this mean we will buy some of those fancy cheeses?"

Adrien chuckled and shook his head. Of course his kwami would only think about cheese, even in a situation as this.

"We will get some cheese, but first Christmas decorations."

An hour or so had passed when Adrien had bought a small Christmas tree, some Christmas ornaments for the tree, some fancy cheese and Christmas cookies and different kind of decorations to hang in the room. He got to a nearby alley before he transformed.

Chat Noir ran over the rooftops holding two bags in his hand. He soon got back at the hospital, he extended his baton towards the 8th floor, the floor Marinette's room was. He looked through the windows, searching for the right one to enter. It took him four times until he found the correct one.

He waved at Tikki, who had her eyes on the window. She smiled happily as she quickly flew towards the window. She slowly opened the window, using most of her power to make it move. Chat Noir got into the room and closed the window again before he grabbed the small bag filled with Christmas cookies, opened the bag and placed it on a nightstand next to Marinette's bed. Tikki thanked him and flew into the bag to take a cookie. Chat Noir then took the fancy cheese from a bag and placed it next to the Christmas cookies for Plagg.

"Claws out." he whispered.

A green light flashed in the room. Adrien froze when Marinette stirred in her sleep, afraid he had woken her up with his transformation. He waited a few second longer before he concluded that Marinette was still sound asleep. In the meantime Plagg had already found his way to the cheese and happily ate from it.

Adrien chuckled softly at the Kwami's enjoying their late night snack before he began to decorate the room. He started with the small Christmas tree and placed it on the table that stood in the room. He decorated it with cute black Christmas cat ornaments he had found in some department store. Every cat was holding a different instrument. On top of the tree he placed a big star that was slightly too big compared to the small tree. Once the tree was set up he began to decorate the room with fairy lights and Christmas garlands.

When he was done he was happy with the results. The room looked so much lovelier after the Christmas makeover. He then took a chair and placed it next to Marinette's bed. He took a seat and looked at her as she slept for a little while until he fell asleep himself.

The next morning he woke up by Marinette's hand going through his hair. He slowly opened his eyes and looked up at Marinette who was smiling at him while silent tears run down her cheeks.

"It's beautiful." She said. "It's so beautiful."

"I'm glad you like it." Adrien said as he leaned back into his chair and stretched his back before he stood up from the chair and climbed next to Marinette into the bed, of course making sure not to hurt her.

"I love it."

Adrien smiled at her and pressed a soft kiss on her lips.

"Merry Christmas, Marinette."

"Merry Christmas, Adrien."


	5. Day 5: Compromise

It was the first of December when Alya happily skipped in her Ladybug themed pajamas through the living room at 8.30am. Nino looked up surprised from his tablet as he wasn't used to see Alya full of energy in the early morning. Normally she would be walking into the living room like some zombie with a double espresso in her hand around 10am.

"You sure are an early bird today." Nino commented at his girlfriend's behavior, as he put his tablet on his lap and took a sip of his morning black coffee with extra sugar.

"It's December." Alya said like that answer explained her sudden change in behavior.

"I know that, but I don't really see what's so excited about that." Nino said with an raised eyebrow.

"That means that it's 24 days till Christmas and so it's time to get Christmas decorations since we don't have any!"

"You want to go Christmas shopping?"

"Yes that's right! I already go in mind what to do for decorating."

Nino drunk all his coffee that was left in his mug in one go. He knew what was about to come, and honestly he wasn't awake enough to deal with this situation. If he could he would have liked at least two more espressos before he had to face this conversation, but knowing Alya there was no time to get two more espressos.

"We're not having Ladybug and Chat Noir themed Christmas decorations." Nino said. "You already pushed me so far to wear those Chat Noir themed pajamas to match your ladybug themed pajamas." he said calmly.

"But you said you think Chat Noir is a cool dude and that you don't mind wearing it."

"I do think he is a cool dude and I'm fine to wear those pajamas for you, but I don't think he is that cool that I want to decorate everything Christmas related with the heroes. You have to understand there is a limit."

"But, Nino…"

"No Alya… It's too early to discuss this…"

"Fine… We will discuss it later." Alya said with a pout as she plopped down on the couch with her arms crossed over her chest.

Nino let out a sigh as he stood up from the couch to refill his cup with some new black coffee with extra sugar. He knew better to leave Alya alone for a while when she was like this. He knew that this was going to be a long and tiring day, and for that he need some more coffee.

Once he was in the kitchen he placed his mug on the kitchen counter took the can that was still filled with coffee and poured it into his mug. The coffee was still hot, due to the fact he had just made it with the filter coffee machine. He then took the box that contains the sugar cubes and put three of them in his coffee. The box was just like most of their kitchen stuff Ladybug themed. He already allowed Alya to have so many Ladybug and Chat Noir themed stuff, that she just had to start to understand that everything got a limit. He would probably go insane if he had to see even more red things with black polka dots in their house.

He took out another mug of the cabin and placed it on the kitchen counter. He then walked over to the fridge and took a carton with chocolate milk out. He poured the chocolate milk into the mug before putting the carton back inside the fridge. He took both mugs in His hands before he walked back into the living room.

Alya was still sitting on the couch with her arms crossed over her chest and a pout on her face. Nino walked over to her and held the mug with chocolate milk in front of her, she glanced at it before she looked away again.

"Don't you dare think this is over just by giving me chocolate milk." Alya said.

"Come on Alya just take it. I know you want it." he said calmly as he looked at her. "I just want you to calm down so we can talk about it later."

Alya didn't say anything and took the mug in her hands, she stared at it for a little while before she took a sip of her drink. Nino smiled at her as her pout disappeared and she seems to calm down almost immediately. He didn't exactly know why but whenever she was mad at someone she would go drink this specific brand of chocolate milk and the she would feel better. He guessed it was because of the flavor, the brand was known for its rich creamy chocolate taste. Of course once he found out about that he, he began to give it to her whenever they had an argument. He gave it so she would be calmed down enough to have a proper conversation about it. However he guessed that this problem wasn't going to be solved calmly after she had calmed down with the chocolate milk.

Nino took his seat next to Alya and stirred his coffee for a few seconds before he took a sip. Both stayed quiet as they enjoyed their drinks. Normally Nino would have Alya snuggled up against him as she holds a small cup with a double espresso in it. However, that wasn't the case when they had an argument. Nino knew that he needed to stay calm and that Alya needed her space when angry, he learned it the hard way the first time they got into an argument. They also had an unwritten rule, that both parties could say that they don't want to discuss the problem just yet. Whatever reason they gave, the other respects it even though they might be frustrated about that. The way they dealt with arguments is probably a reason why they won't break up over one.

"Thank you." Alya thanked him for the chocolate milk after a while. He voice sounding relaxed and calm. She wasn't annoyed anymore. "You can let me know when you're ready to discuss it.

"I will." he said as he wrapped an arm around her and carefully pulled her closer to him.

Some hours flew by and it was now 2pm. Alya was sitting at the dining table in the living room with her laptop as she was working on a new blog post of the Akuma attack that had happened one and a half hour ago. She was typing away on her keyboard completely focused when Nino walked into the room with two cups of coffee. One cappuccino for Alya and a black coffee for himself.

"How's writing going?" he asked as he placed the cappuccino on a coaster next to her laptop on the table.

"Good. I almost finished the blog post, all that's left to do is to edit the image to announce I uploaded a new blog for Twitter and Instagram." she said as she took her cappuccino with her right hand to take a sip while continuing to type with her left hand.

"When do you think you finish?" Nino asked as he took a seat in front of Alya at the table, before he took a sip of his coffee.

"Probably within thirty minutes."

"Okay, once you're finished I would like to continue with the whole discussion from this morning."

Alya paused with typing and looked up at Nino. She smiled softly before she closed her laptop.

"You don't have to wait until I finish the post for the Ladyblog. I know that the viewers would love to see it as soon as possible but you're more important than the Ladyblog. You're my boyfriend, the one who supports me and the one who wear Chat Noir themed pajamas and drink out of a Chat Noir mug just to make me happy." she said

Nino could feel his heart race. He knew that Alya loves him, if she didn't they wouldn't had moved in together. But she never really told him he was more important than her blog. Her blog meant everything to her, so he began to assume at some point that he was not as important as the Ladyblog.

"You should never doubt that. You mean the world to me after all." she said as she took his hand in hers.

"But you're so passionate about Ladybug, Chat Noir and your blog… I just couldn't help but think I wasn't that important…" he admitted. He could feel a weight lift of his shoulders, apparently the whole ladybug stuff had bothered him more than he thought.

"It's true I'm passionate about them, but I'm way more passionate about you then about them. I mean when I'm with Marinette and the other girls, we usually talk about boys and sometimes I annoy them pretty much because I can't shut up about you."

"You talk to them about me?"

"Of course. We're girls that's what we do." Alya said and giggled. "Don't worry, it's only good things."

"Really?"

"Really. Now, should we continue our discussion?"

Nino nodded, before he took a sip of his coffee.

"This morning you just kind of overwhelmed me with your behavior. I'm not used to have you walking around the room with full energy at 8 in the morning." Nino began. "And when it was again about Ladybug and Chat Noir… something snapped… I guess it bothers me more than I thought that you spent so much attention to the heroes…"

Nino paused for a moment, taking a few sips of his coffee before he continued.

"I was happy that we finally moved in together this year and that we will be celebrating all holidays together. I don't mind it if there is a little bit of Ladybug and Chat Noir themed Christmas decorations, but the way it got announced that you wanted it and the moment when, caused it to be too much for me. Also the way you pouted when I said no made me feel guilty, I don't like it when you're upset… Especially when it's me who made you feel that way…"

Alya stayed quiet the whole time as she listened to her boyfriend, while taking a sip from her cappuccino every now and then. She waited a little longer once Nino was finished talking, just to make sure he was really done talking.

"I'm sorry that I didn't really keep your feelings in mind… I know I can get quite excited about Ladybug and Chat Noir… and it's something I should work on… I never meant to make it feels like you're less important to me than they are. You're the most important person in the world to me and no one can top that. I should have brought it up more calmly and not in a way it feels like I force it onto you…" Alya said as she looked Nino into his eyes. "If you want normal Christmas decorations then that's perfectly fine, you've compromised with me so many times… so it's my turn to do so now…"

Nino smiled at her before he stood up and walked to the side of the table Alya was sitting at. He then wrapped his arms around her from behind and pressed a soft kiss on her temple.

"You don't have to. I'm fine with three Ladybug and Chat Noir themed Christmas decorations. You can pick whatever kind of decoration you want that to be, but the only thing I want to say in this is that I don't want the whole Christmas tree to be Ladybug and Chat Noir themed."

"That's perfect fine." Alya said with a smile before she pressed her lips against his. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Nino placed one more kiss on her temple before he took his cup with coffee back in his hands.

"Shall we go shopping after you finish your blog post?" Nino asked.

"Sure. The stores are open longer today anyways."

Alya opened her laptop and continued to work on the Ladyblog as fast as she could, while Nino played a game on his tablet. Both were happy things got spoken out.

The time flew by and before they knew it they had finished their Christmas shopping. They had bought a fake tree, Christmas lights and silver and purple ornaments. Alya vlogged a bit in the store to show all the Ladybug and Chat Noir decorations that was being sold. However there appeared to be more Ladybug and Chat Noir Christmas decorations than she thought which leaded to one of the hardest situations Alya got in because she could only pick three. She didn't ask Nino if she could have a few more, much to his delight. If she did asked for a few more decorations he would probably allow her due to the fact she looked so cute when deciding what to pick. In the end she decided to get a Christmas wreath which had a small Ladybug and Chat Noir sitting between the branches and a Ladybug and a Chat Noir with a halo above their heads and with angel wings on their backs for the top of their Christmas tree.

Once they got back home they took something to drink before they started decorating their house. After a few hours the apartment got a cozy vibe due to all the Christmas decorations.

"Thank you for compromising." Alya said when they both looked at the tree that stood in front of them.

"You too." He replied as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close. He then pressed his lips on hers.

"What was that for?" she asked, she giggled as she was totally taken back by the sudden kiss.

"As a thank you, but also because I didn't want to break this specific Christmas tradition." he said and pointed up at the ceiling.

Alya looked up to what he was pointing at, only to see the mistletoe hanging above them. She let out a laugh before she hit him a playfully in his side with her elbow.

"You're such a dork."

"But I'm your dork."

"That's very true, you're my dork."

Alya then pressed a quick kiss on his cheek before she left him, standing still under the mistletoe with a slight blush. Man he loved that woman. He loved her so much.


	6. Day 6: Burned Romance

"You seem to be in such a hurry. What's the rush?" Plagg asked Adrien as he flew out of his coat pocket once Adrien got home.

"I was planning to cook Marinette dinner tonight but of course my father needed to ruin my planning. Now I got like 2 hours to prepare everything." Adrien said annoyed as he put the bags with all groceries for tonight's dinner on the ground so he could put his coat off.

He kicked out his shoes before picking up the grocery bags again and rush towards the kitchen. He was supposed to have a day off, but of course his father had other plans. He has added a winter themed photo shoot for some magazine's article about fashionably seasons clothing to his cleared schedule last minute. Of course he couldn't go against his father, he couldn't risk it to ruin the Agreste name because he went against him even though he was already a grown up man that had moved out some years ago.

Besides that, Adrien was afraid that Marinette had to pay for his action if he did something his father wasn't amused over. He wasn't sure if he would really do it through, but he knew his father his whole life so it wouldn't surprise him if he would really made Marinette pay for it. He could easily imagine his father giving her a huge pile of paperwork that needed to be checked, made her clean up the work space, make sure the restocks of all the fabric is correct on paper or let her get coffee for the whole company. Or worse she had to do more than just one of those tasks. He didn't want that to happen.

Marinette was a great designer who started from the bottom in the industry. She rolled in at Gabriel as an intern after his father had seen her own designed dress she wore at the dinner where he would introduce her to his father as his girlfriend. His father was really impressed by the dress, saying that she was gifted with talent and that it was one of the hardest things to make a simple dress with not much detail to look so stunning. He also asked her if she had her sketchbook with designs with her, which she had. Marinette and her sketchbook are inseparable after all. That fact gave her some extra points with his father, since according to him a good designer never leaves the house without a sketchbook no matter where they go, even if it's just a trip to the supermarket.

All through the dinner was awkward, the evening went well. After they had finished eating his father wanted to speak with Marinette in his office and look at her designs. He wasn't allowed to go with her as she should be doing it alone. That was also one of his father's requirements, his employees need to be able to do things on their own. Since he couldn't always be there to help them and he wanted to be able to trust his employees blindly.

After half an hour Marinette rushed over to him saying she got an internship at Gabriel. He was very happy for her. However after her first day of her internship he realized that his father was testing her. She had been through a lot of things on just one day. Mostly just the chores that didn't had anything to do with designing. His father probably wanted to see how much pressure she could take and if she was really qualified for the job. He had seen her getting home completely worn out by the amount of work she had to do. She had even been there at the point she wanted to quit just because the work was inhuman to keep up with. In the end she didn't quit.

Adrien was glad that she had passed his father's test and was now able to do the designing work she loved to do. Of course it was still a tough job that tires her out but at least she was part of the designing team. So because it finally went well with her, he didn't want to ruin it again by going against his father. He guessed that that was one of the downsides of dating the son of the famous Parisian fashion designer Gabriel Agreste.

Just like every year Gabriel let his employees work on Christmas day. The December month was one of the best months when it came to their sales due to the fact that everyone wanted to have fancy clothing to wear with Christmas and New Year's Eve. And because of that fact, he knew that Marinette would be dead tired after work. So he decided to surprise her with a romantic dinner with candle light and a glass of sweet red wine.

"So what are you going to make?" Plagg asked, causing Adrien to get back from his thoughts.

"For starter a spicy pumpkin soup, for the main course roasted pheasant with wild mushroom and bacon ragout and I bought some fancy ice cream for dessert." he said.

"So no cheese?"

"No, there is no cheese in it."

"Well good luck then making this dinner tasty."

"Hey, not everything needs cheese to be considered good food. And besides that I can cook perfectly fine."

"Like Pasta and omelets, but a pheasant? Have you cooked that before?"

"No. But how hard can that be?"

Adrien had found a recipe online on some hobby cooking website. It had the complete list of ingredients and a step by step list of how to prepare it all. It should be a piece of cake, right?

Right?

He was wrong. He was so wrong that it couldn't be that hard. At first it went fine, he had followed all the steps for the soup according to the recipe, however once he began on the main course things started to go wrong.

"Um… Adrien… The soup… is boiling over." Plagg said as he munched on a piece of camembert.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny Plagg." Adrien said as he put the Pheasant into the oven.

However his expression changed to one at shock when he saw the soup boiling over the edge of the pan, causing the stove to get dirty by the thick pumpkin liquid.

"Oh God no." He exclaimed as he turned it off. "How did that happen?"

"Don't ask me. I'm not a chef."

"You're not helping Plagg…"

"I never said I was here to help you to begin with. I'm just here to see you struggle cooking."

Adrien let out a sign, he cared for Plagg a lot and he couldn't imagine a world without his Kwami. However those moments were the ones where he wished Plagg was more like Tikki.

Adrien took a potholder and used it to remove the lid of the pan. Lots of smoke escaped the pan once the lid got lifted, Adrien coughed a bit before he took a step back and waited for it to disappear. He then looked back into the pan to check on the state of the soup. Not only did it boil over, it got burned as well. The bottom of the pan was almost completely black.

"That's no starter for tonight." Adrien sighed. "There is no time to get the ingredients again."

"You can always serve Cheese as an starter. You don't need to cook it so you can't ruin anything of it." Plagg said matter-of-factly.

"I won't serve cheese as an starter."

"Why not?"

"Because I just want to cook a romantic dinner for my girlfriend and serving cheese from the fridge doesn't have that much meaning compared to cooking something yourself."

"Urgh… it's this romance stuff again…"

"Oh shut up."

Plagg didn't say anything else, he knew that if he went too far that Adrien would cut his Camembert short. It had happen before after all. Adrien was glad he could continue in peace now. He felt pretty stupid for not being able to cook something simple as soup, but he still had a main course so dinner wasn't completely ruined.

Once the preparation was done he went to the living room to set up the table. He had placed the table wear on the surface of the table first, then he had placed two wine glasses and a bottle of sweet red wine on it before he decorated it with some candles and rose petals. Once that was gone he got back into the kitchen to finish dinner, not knowing a complete mess awaited him as well as his girlfriend getting home soon.

The front door opened when it was around 6.30pm. Marinette had a tough day at work and would do almost anything to get some rest. She took of her coat and kicked off her high heels before she walked further into the apartment. She just wanted to plop down onto the couch and take a nap. However that plan got thrown out of the window the moment she heard Adrien's and Plagg's conversation.

"Oh my gosh! Not the Pheasant too!" Adrien shouted in Panic.

"That's all your worried about? The freaking oven and a kitchen cabin are on fire! Put it out before it reaches the fridge and burns my precious camembert!" Plagg shouted back, he was in panic as well.

Marinette's eyes widened the moment she heard that some of the kitchen was literally on fire. She quickly took the fire extinguisher and rushed towards the kitchen, Tikki following her close. The tiredness completely forgotten as the adrenaline rushed through her veins. The panicked conversation between Adrien and Plagg still went on, but she didn't hear it as she was too focused on putting the fire out.

She stepped into the kitchen, seeing that now her Oven, stove and a kitchen cabin was on fire. She got closer to the fire and used the fire extinguisher to put the fire off. Adrien and Plagg just looked at her as she took some action to prevent the whole kitchen from burning to ashes.

"What were you thinking!? Staying close to the fire and not even trying to put it off!? Did you want to die!?" she snapped.

"Actually us Kwami's can't die." Plagg said.

"Hush, Plagg. She's probably not talking to you." Tikki said as she flew over to Plagg before pushing him out of the kitchen.

"No I don't want to die… I just wanted to surprise you with a romantic dinner for the two of us, since you always works so hard and we barely got the time to do those kind of things… But when it all got on fire I just panicked…" he said as he looked down at his feet, he felt embarrassed that he had set the kitchen on fire with something that's supposed to be an easy dish to make according to some website.

Marinette's expression softened as she looked at Adrien with a soft smile.

"You wanted to cook a romantic dinner?"

"Yeah… I wanted to make it perfect, but obviously I failed miserably."

Marinette stepped closer to him after she had put the fire extinguisher on the ground and cupped his cheeks with her hands. She then lifted his face a bit before she pressed her lips against his. He relaxed by the touch and closed his eyes as he kissed her back, arms wrapping around her waist.

The kiss lasted for a minute or so, before they broke apart. Marinette smile at him with a loving smile and a slight blush spread on her face.

"That's very sweet of you wanting to do that." she said.

"I wish that it had worked out though… Or at least that it didn't make so much damage…"

"It's fine. I've wanted a new kitchen for quite some time."

"You do? I thought you liked it."

"Like it? I hate it… The color is so hideous, it makes it look like the kitchen is dirty even when it just got cleaned."

"Why didn't you say so?"

"Because I didn't want you to spend a lot of money, while all the electronica and such works completely fine."

"But we could have just painted it a different color."

"We both know that that wouldn't be possible." she said as she bopped his nose. "Because you would turn the painting project into a project to get the perfect kitchen for me, which means that painting isn't the only makeover it gets."

"You're right…"

"But now we have a reason to get a new one, but we can talk about that later. Let's eat first."

"I got ice cream and sweet red wine… that are the only things that survived."

Marinette giggled.

"I guess it's wine with takeout then."

"Sounds very romantic." Adrien chuckled.

"Want to get Burger King?"

"Sure. Burger King with candlelight and wine, that's perfect."

Marinette was glad to see Adrien joke around about his unfortunate cooking experience.

"Want to go get it together?" she asked.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay home? Work must have been tired."

"It's fine, besides that if I stay home you would find me asleep on the couch and then I won't be able to eat dinner with you and I won't be able to have a fun night with you, which I really want to."

"You know you will regret that decision tomorrow."

"That's something for me to deal with tomorrow. Tonight I just want to spend it with you."

Adrien smiled at her as he took her hand in his before he leaded her to the front door. They put on their shoes and jackets before they left to get some takeout at Burger King.


	7. Day 7: Curiosity Killed The Cat

Adrien was always pretty curious. He loved to learn new things, he loved to see new things and he loved to discover things. However due to his curiosity he couldn't handle surprises and not knowing what he would get for birthdays and Christmas, father's day got added to the list as well ever since they got their own children.

Marinette being the one married to him, she had her hands full with it. Every year it was the same old story. She had to hide the gifts away from her husband and she had to move it once he got suspicious of her hiding place.

She couldn't really blame him though. He never really celebrated Christmas with gifts, only until his mother passed away when he was little. But he doesn't really remember those anymore. His birthday didn't brought much trill either, as he knew that he would get that same boring pen again just like every other year.

So now that he had a family with three adorable children and a beautiful wife, he did experience all the excitement surrounding the holidays. He would go on and on about it that he wanted to know what the gifts are but Marinette keeps her ground. She was the only one who bought it, wrapped it in paper, hid it and put it under the tree.

Normally she would put the presents a few minutes before under the tree but due to the fact Alya needed her to alter the dress she had made she had to put the presents already under it. After all she didn't wanted to spoil the kids that it wasn't Santa clause who drunk the milk, ate the cookies and put the presents under the tree.

Just like her teen years she knew Adrien's schedule by heart, however now that they are married it doesn't make her look like some stalker. He would have a photo shoot and a meeting with his father, so he would be home around 5pm. So she would already be home with the kids before Adrien arrives, as she is going to pick them up at her parent's place after she fixed Alya's dress.

She just prayed Gabriel didn't cancel his meeting with Adrien, if that happens then he would be home sooner than her. She put her shoes and coat on before she left the house.

Adrien had just finished his photo shoot when he got a call from Nathalie, she told him his father had to cancel their appointment due to something important getting in between. Adrien knew that this would happen, it always did after all. Just a little less than in his teen years, but still it could still upset him every now and then. His father was getting older and their relationship didn't improved that much. He should thank Nathalie though for the little improvement they made, ever since his father married Nathalie he had changed a bit for the better and he hoped that Nathalie was able to push his father further in the right direction.

"My lady, I'm home." he called out but there was no response.

The upsetting feeling disappeared and curiosity and excitement took over. Marinette wasn't home, so this might be his chance to find the presents. He quickly kicked his shoes of and thrown his jacket onto the coat rack. He slipped Into the living room, wanting to take the stairs to the first floor from there. However he stopped when he saw the presents laying under the tree.

A smirk appeared on his face as he got closer towards the presents. He couldn't believe it that Marinette would put it so in the open. He looked at the gifts, searching for a gift with his name on it. Once he found one he reached out for it and took it in his hands. However one he pulled the present towards him he got fling into the air by some ropes, causing him to hang a few meters above the ground. Due to the shock he had dropped the present on the ground, fortunately it felt soft so it didn't got broken.

Adrien let out a grown in annoyance of course it was too good to be true that she would put the presents in the open like that. He should have known that it was a trap. However he never thought his wife would booby-trap the presents like that, nor did he know she was capable of doing so. Then again she was Ladybug, the one that found solutions with strange random items she got from her lucky charm. So maybe he shouldn't be surprised about the trap she had set up.

Adrien tried to get his phone from his pocket. It took him awhile but he succeeded eventually. He pressed the home button until the Siri screen came up.

"Siri, call Woman of my dreams." he ordered his phone.

Once his phone began to call Marinette he brought his phone as close as possible in front of his face and pressed the button to put the call on speaker mode.

"Hello?" Marinette said.  
"Hi, where are you?" Adrien began trying to sound as normal as possible.  
"I'm at Alya's, I needed to adjust her dress for a family dinner she has tonight at her In-law's."  
"When will you be home?"  
"Around 4.30pm I think. I need to pick up the kids at my parents place after I'm done here."

Adrien looked at the time that was displayed at the right corner of his screen. Great, it was just 1.35pm.

"Can you get here sooner? I'm kind of in a stringy situation." he said.  
"You touched the gifts didn't you?" Marinette replied right away, she knew her husband and his puns like she knew the back of her hand and was able to link the pun directly to the trap she had put up for the curious man.  
"What? Of course not."  
"Adrien I know you longer than today."  
"Okay fine I did. But seriously, did you really had to booby-trap the gifts?"  
"Having you on the phone right now proves that it was needed. If I didn't you would already opened all your gifts."

Adrien rolled his eyes, he hated it that she was right. If he was able to control his curiosity then he wouldn't had been hanging there. Curiosity killed the cat after all, and there is no satisfaction that would bring it back to life right now. He felt embarrassed, uncomfortable and betrayed at the same time.

"Please get back home and get me out of here…" he begged.  
"I'm sorry Adrien but I can't. This dress needs more adjustments then I thought. I mean I just heard my best friend is pregnant and that that's the reason why she doesn't fit it anymore." Marinette said happily.  
"Congrats to her and Nino, but are you really going to leave me hanging? I don't want to be stuck here for two hours." he whined.  
"I'm sorry Adrien but I can't leave right now. Just see it as a lesson not to touch the gifts next time."  
"You will booby-trap them again?"  
"Maybe I will."  
"Marinette…"  
"I got to go now, I'll see you later." with that Marinette hung up.

Adrien let out a grown in annoyance. He had no idea that Marinette could be so evil. He would get back at her in some way, he didn't know how but he sure would. He had two hours to think about it anyways. Two hours until his wife would return with the kids and hopefully would let him get back down.

He sighed this was going to be the longest two hours in his life.


	8. Day 8: The First Snowfall

Ladybug stood on the top of the roof of the Notre-Dame. The chilly wind blew through her hair lightly as she looked at the Parisian streets that were decorated with different kinds of Christmas lights. She was waiting for her partner to arrive for their weekly patrol together. Even though it has been a week, Ladybug already missed his company.

She had looked forward to it quite a lot to be out there running over roofs again with Chat Noir. Those patrol days were the days they were able to chat a bit more about their lives, of course without revealing too much details. It was nice to have a day like that where they could meet up and get to know each other a bit more without the stress that came with dealing with Hawk Moth and his Akuma's.

"Good evening my lady." Chat greeted as he landed next to her on the roof. "It took me a little longer to get her due to my father wanting to speak to me about my behavior."  
"It's alright, I wasn't waiting long." she replied.

She knew about Chat Noir's relationship with his father. He told her it wasn't really the best bond between father and son, as well as that he tried to keep him proud even though it would ruin his own happiness. Ladybug also noticed that Chat Noir hadn't been like himself since the beginning of December. However he did it told her what was wrong, but she guessed whatever it is was, it had to do something with his behavior change.

"So how are you doing?" Chat Noir asked.  
"I'm doing fine, just a little tired, it's quite busy at my parents shop so I help them out quite a lot. I took a nap before patrol so it's fine now."  
"I see. I bet it must get less busy once the holidays are over."

Ladybug nodded. The Christmas period at the bakery was so busy. She would help her parents bake in the morning and then once they open up she would help her mom taking orders and such. After those work days she felt tired most of the time.

"Make sure you take enough rest." he told her that every time she was feeling tired because of work. After all he was the only one who was able to understand how though it is to combine your civilian life with your superhero life.  
"How are you doing?"

Chat Noir's expression dropped and he let out a sigh before he sat down on the roof. Ladybug took a seat next to him and wrapped an arm around you.

"I don't want to go much into details. It's just my father, he barely pays attention for me ever and now that he had noticed I don't feel like myself, all he does is criticizing me and tells me I'm a disappointment for the family instead of actually helping me."

Ladybug pulled him into a hug. She felt so sorry for him that he didn't have a great relationship with his family. It actually also made her a little more restrained to talk about her family because it feels like she would be rubbing it into his face that it goes well with her relationship with her parents.

"I'm sure you will be there someday and that your parents will be acting normally to you, but until then do know that you can always talk to me when things are bothering you." she said as she released him from the hug. "You're precious to me and I want the best for you. So if there is something I can help you with, please let me know."  
"Thanks Ladybug."

He looked with her with a soft smile before he stood up. He was ready to leave for patrol when suddenly snow began to fall slowly from the sky. He looked up at the sky in awe, the soft smile turning into a big one that showed of his teeth. Ladybug stood up as well and smiled at Chat Noir as he looked up so happily up into the sky.

"My mother used to love the snow a lot. She thought it looks pretty and she always went to play outside with me when I was little." He said.  
"She doesn't like the snow anymore?" Ladybug asked a bit confused why her partner was using the past tense.  
"She still does, sadly she isn't here anymore. But I believe that this first snowfall is a sign of my mother wanting to cheer me up. That has to be it, I mean the weather forecast said I wouldn't snow until later next week."

Ladybug stayed quiet as she now was able to understand why he used the past tense. His mother has passed away.

"I'm sorry… I didn't know…" she said after a while.  
"It's alright. Don't worry about it. It has been a very long time ago, but the weeks around the holidays just gets though since she left us behind a few days after Christmas. I still miss her a lot from time to time but I gave it a place in my heart and moved on with life. After all life goes on and I'm sure my mom wouldn't like it for me to isolate myself inside and stay upset all the time."  
"I'm sure she would be proud of you up there, and that she thinks that you had grown up into a very brave and nice young man."  
"Thanks. I'm sure she is."

They stayed quiet for a moment as they looked at the falling snow. It was a lot that fell down and it had turned the streets white in no time.

"Want to play into the snow for a bit?" Chat Noir asked

Ladybug nodded before she let herself fall down in the already thick layer of snow onto the roof of Notre-Dame. She then began to make a snow angel by moving her arms and legs. Chat Noir laughed and joined her next to her as he began to make a snow angel as well. Both of them laughed as they made fun in the snow, their suits protect them from the cold so it wasn't cold at all.

Once Ladybug had finished her snow angel she grabbed a bit of the snow next to her into her fist and dropped it above Chat Noir's face. Chat Noir let out a yelp in surprise as the snow landed on his face. He sat right up, grabbed some snow and threw it towards Ladybug. Ladybug however, rolled away from the snow and stood up quickly. Chat Noir followed soon after he grabbed some more snow, this time turning it into a snowball. He throws it towards her but Ladybug dodged it by swinging away with her yo-yo.

The snowball fight has soon escalated to a game of cat and mouse. Chat Noir chased after Ladybug trying to get back at her, while Ladybug just dodged the attacks as well as throwing snowballs at him. They both laughed as they ran through the empty streets of Paris, it was already late at night so not many people were still outside. The people of Paris preferred to stay inside where it's warm.

The chase went through for quite some time, both kept throwing snowballs at each other. Chat Noir had succeeded in hitting her with a few snowballs, which made him cheer playfully when he did.

"Chat… no… Have mercy on me…" Ladybug said nervously as she hit the door of a closed flower shop.  
"You want me to have mercy on you after you had thrown a huge snowball at me?" Chat Noir asked as he came closer towards her and grabbed her by her arms.  
"Please Chaton… don't throw me in this thick layer of snow. That's unfair to do…"  
"I don't remember we made an agreement on what's allowed and what's not."  
"Chat!"

Ladybug tried to escape his grip but instead of escaping she slipped, causing them both to fall down into the snow. Ladybug landed on top of Chat Noir, however she didn't stayed there for long as he rolled them over, switching their positions. Ladybug blushed as she looked Chat Noir into the eyes. Their faces were so close to one another's, so close that all she had to do to let their lips touch was get up a little.

"What's the problem? Cat got your tongue?" he asked with a smirk.  
"No, but he might have it soon." she said as she moved her gaze up to the cantilever of the flower shop that was above them, she had noticed the small plant hanging above them once she laid under Chat Noir.

Chat Noir's gaze followed hers until it landed on the mistletoe that was hanging above them. A blush spread over his face as he looked from the mistletoe to Ladybug's lips, back to the mistletoe and again back at Ladybug's lips.

"Well… We shouldn't ignore a Christmas tradition, if we do it might bring bad luck." he said before he leaned in.

Ladybug closed her eyes as Chat Noir got closer to her and connected their lips together in a kiss. The kiss was soft. It was like Chat Noir was afraid if he pressed their lips together with too much pressure that he would break Ladybug, it was like he thought she was made of porcelain. Nonetheless Ladybug enjoyed the kiss just the way it was. She kissed him back softly in the same tender way Chat Noir kissed her, his lips being soft and quite addictive. Chat Noir cupped her cheeks with both hands as he softly slipped his tongue against Ladybug's lips, asking her permission to enter her mouth. Ladybug gladly gave his tongue access into her mouth and wrapped her arms around his neck. She played with his hair as their kiss got a bit deepened.

They broke apart after some time has passed, small clouds coming from their mouths as they caught their breath. They looked at each other into the eyes, both with a blush spread over their cheeks. They stayed quiet before they connected their lips once again in a tender kiss as the snow continued to fall down around them.


	9. Day 9: Box In A Box In A Box

Nino was passing through the living room. Today was the day, the day he would ask his girlfriend he moved in with seven years ago to marry him. He had bought the most beautiful engagement ring he could find and he hoped Alya would think so too. The ring was put in a black box, which he had put in a slightly bigger decorative box, which was put in another slightly bigger decorative box and so on until the box was a little bigger than a shoebox.

He wanted to surprise her, but he went a bit overboard with putting it in boxes. It was probably because of his nerves, the more boxes he used, the longer it would take her to find the ring, the more time he would have to prepare himself on asking the question.

He was still Passing around the room when his phone went off. He took it out of his pocket as quick as he could, causing it to fly up into the air. Fortunately he caught it and answered the call before it would go to his voicemail.

"Hello?" he said, the nervousness clearly in his voice.

"Hi Nino, how are you doing? Hope you're not dying of the nerves." Adrien said with a chuckle.

"Me dying of the nerves? I already died the moment Alya left the house with Marinette to go shopping."

"Nino, try to relax a bit. Marinette will keep her with her as long as she can so you can get mentally ready for asking her the big question."

"Relax? Dude I don't even know how I can do that. The time is passing so fast and I feel like freaking out! Are you sure you can't come over…"

"Sorry I can't… I have to look after the kids."

"Can't you bring them to their grandparents?"

"That's not possible. Tom and Sabine are in China for the holidays and my Father is in Milan for a business trip."

"What about Nathalie?"

"She's my father's assistant, so obviously she's with him in Milan."

"Just take the kids with you to my place… I need my bro for mental support or else I'll be really dead before I even got the chance to ask her to marry me."

Adrien let out a sigh before he responds to his over dramatic freak out session.

"Fine, I will take the kids with me. But seriously, there is no reason to be so over dramatic…"

"Thank you so much. What time will you be here?" Nino asked, deciding to ignore the fact Adrien though he was being over dramatic.

"I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

"See you then."

Fifteen minutes later the doorbell rang. Nino rushed to open the door as soon as he could, revealing Adrien who stood there with little Louis in his arms, a giant bright green flower printed mom bag over his shoulder and his left hand held Emma's right hand. Hugo stood in front of him and held a small red bag with some of his toys.

"Uncle Nino." Hugo shouted in excitement and hugged Nino's legs.

"Hi, little Dude." Nino greeted back and picked Hugo up.

"Where is Aunty Alya?" Emma asked. Normally it was Alya who would be there at the door as well.

"She's shopping with mommy." Adrien said to his daughter, who was pouting because her favorite aunt wasn't there.

Hugo really had taken a liking in Nino, while Emma really like Alya a lot. Little Louis was still too young to pick a favorite of their friends, he was sleeping most of the time anyways.

Adrien and Nino helped the kids to take off their scarves, shoes and jackets before they let the two oldest walk further into the house. Adrien then gave Louis to Nino so he could put his jacket and shoes off. Once he had put his jacket on the coat rack he took Luis back from Nino.

"I'm so glad you came. Really I'm so nervous, I feel like dying… Seriously dude how did you do it?" Nino asked as they walked towards the living room.

"Believe me, I know how you feel. I was very nervous as well. I knew she loves me a lot and would love to marry me. I mean we already had Emma at that time when I asked her and she was already Pregnant from Hugo. But still, I was very nervous to the point I had to run to the toilet right before I asked her."

"You threw up?"

"I did… She came to check on me if I was alright and joked that she was the one with morning sickness, not me."

"Did you ask her eventually?"

"I did, after I freshen myself up. She got pretty emotional, it turns out she really wanted to get married."

Both guys took a seat once they got in front of the couch. Adrien placed the big mom bag next to it, he always kept that bag close just in case. It was always useful since it had everything in there. From diapers to bandages to plush dolls, you name it and it would be in there. He looked at the kids who were playing in front of them. Emma and Hugo were playing with Hugo's mini cars.

"What have you planned for Alya? I mean what's the way you want to ask her to marry you?" Adrien asked as he runs his fingers through Louis hair.

"I put the Engagement ring in her present, but I kind of went overboard I think since I put it in lots of boxes… So many I lost count" Nino replied.

Adrien chuckled. Sometimes his friend could be so hilarious with the way he dealt with stress and nerves.

"I assume that was the doing of your nerves. I hope you didn't put too much boxes around it. We know she has patience with things, but her patience will eventually disappear at some point."

"I know, but I think it will be alright. Or at least I hope so…"

The guys continued to chat about other stuff to keep Nino's mind from freaking out, until Adrien's phone went off. He answered the call, it was Marinette. She told Adrien that she was done shopping with Alya and that they were going back home. Adrien thanked her for letting him know before they said goodbye and hung up.

"I have to go now. The girls are done shopping and I don't want to be the third wheel when your girl gets back."

"You're leaving me already? Can't you stay a little longer?"

"I can't you really have to do this on your own."

"Okay… but if I die between the time you left and Alya arrives, I will blame you for it."

Adrien let out a laugh before he let the kids know they were about to leave. Both pouted as they didn't want to leave just yet but Adrien was able to convince them they should because Nino needed to do something really important and that they will come back another time. He helped his kids with their shoes, coats and scarves before he put on his own. They all said goodbye to Nino before they left again.

Nino took a deep breath as he was one his own again. He could be relaxed, he could be chill right? He let out a yelp as he heard the front door getting unlocked. Okay he wasn't relaxed and absolutely not chill.

"I'm home!" Alya said loudly after she closed the door behind her.

"Welcome back." he called back.

Once Alya go into the living room she showed Nino all the clothes she had bought on her shopping trip with Marinette by putting it on and doing a small fashion show for him. He loved everything she had bought as it suits her very well.

After her fashion show they got some take out Chinese food. Dinner was nice, even though they didn't spoke much to each other. This because they ate it on the couch while watching the movie 'The Family Man.' After the movie ended it was time for the gifts.

"Merry Christmas." Nino said as he handed Alya her gift with slightly shaking hands.

Alya smiled at him before she placed the gift on top of her lap and removed the ribbon from the box. Nino had taken his seat next to her again and watched her opening. She let out a laugh after she saw another box inside the box she had just opened.

It went on like that. Alya kept finding new boxes inside the ones she just opened. At first it was still funny and she laughed about how silly this way of packaging was. However as it was the twenty-fifth box she found she started to get annoyed, because by now it wasn't funny anymore.

Ten more boxes later she got to the small black box. Nino could feel his nerves starting to get sky high as the time was finally there. Once she opens the lid she would see the ring. He hoped her annoyance wouldn't ruin the moment and causes her to say no.

"I swear if this is another box with a box in it I'll go-" Alya interrupted herself once she had taken the lid of the box.

Inside of it was a beautiful silver ring decorated with small white rhinestones. She looked at it with widened eyes, she was speechless. She slowly looked up at Nino in disbelieve. She needed to hear from him if this was indeed what she thought it was.

"Alya, first off all I'm sorry for going overboard with the boxes... I guess I was so nervous I forgot to count…" he started off. "Anyways we have been together for a long time now… and we love each other from the moon and back… I thought it would be time to take it to the next step… Alya Césaire, the woman of my dreams… Will you marry me?"

Alya put her hands in front of her mouth as she bit her bottom lip, tears began to form in her eyes. She nodded her head like crazy as the tears fell down her cheeks.

"Yes." she said as a sob left her mouth. "A thousand times yes!"

She threw herself at Nino, wrapping her arms around him in a hug and sobbed into his shoulder because of happiness. Nino returned the hug and showered her with little kisses on top of her head.

"I love you. I love you so much." she said between her sobs.

"I love you too."

They stayed like that for a while until Alya calmed down and pulled away from Nino. She then wiped her tears away before she slipped on the engagement ring. She held her hand up in the air as she smiled at it.

"It's so beautiful." she said.

Nino smiled at her with a soft smile before he pressed a kiss on her cheek.

"I'm glad you think so."

Alya turned to him, the bright smile still on her face.

"It's time for my gift for you." she said before she got up to get her present for him from under the tree. She then took her seat next to him again before she gave him a small box.

"Merry Christmas." she said.

Alya looked at Nino as he removed the ribbon and lifted the lid. Nino looked confused at first when there was a pregnancy test in the box, but his eyes soon widened once he noticed that the test was positive. He looked up at his fiancé overjoyed.

"You… You're… We… a kid…" Nino tried to speak but he kept stumbling over his words.

"You're going to be a father." she said with a giggle. Nino's reaction was pretty cute to her.

"We're going to be parents… We're going to become parents. We're going to become parents!" he repeated, getting more and more excited each time he repeated it.

"We are." Alya confirmed with a big smile on her face.

Nino pulled her close and showered her face in kisses as he repeated that this was the best Christmas ever.


	10. Day 10: So Much For A Mistletoe Kiss

"Alya I swear he is freaking blind or something." Marinette exclaimed in frustration into the phone.

She was lying on her back onto the couch, still wearing her light pink pajama pants and her white with black polka dot camisole. Adrien had already left the apartment an hour ago because of a photo shoot he had to attend, which gave Marinette the time to rant to Alya about her oblivious boyfriend.

"Come on girl, it can't be that bad. Maybe you just put the mistletoe too high?" Alya asked.  
"Alya I doubt it I hang it up too high, I'm barely 160 centimeters tall… he is like what, 184 centimeters tall or something… like he is huge, how can't he see it hanging?"  
"Let me guess you had to wear those sweet Lolita platform heels with bunny ears and tail, and stand on a chair to even be able to hang the mistletoe up?"  
"Alya, I'm calling you to rant about my oblivious handsome boyfriend, not to get made fun of because of my tininess and insult my adorable shoes that helped me out many times as well as make me look less like some dwarf next to all my ridiculous tall friends. Also Adrien thinks they are cute."

Alya let out a laugh, she found it hilarious to make fun of Marinette's height from time to time. She was the smallest of her group of friends after all. Alya was around 172 centimeter tall and Nino was a little smaller than Adrien so she guessed Nino was around 179 centimeter tall. The fact they all where above average height for French Men and Women didn't made it much better. She really blamed the Asian genes she got from her mom. However she was lucky her father was a French man and so it compensated a bit in her own height. If her father was Asian as well, then she probably would have been as tall as her mom, which was below the average heights for Chinese woman.

"Okay, okay I'm sorry… It's just that I can picture it how you hang it up at high places. The shoes are cute and there is nothing wrong with it, really. I'm even jealous of your tiny feet because of that, I wish I could wear those kind of shoes but they aren't available in my size most of the time."  
"Guess that's one of the bright sides of being small. I can buy a lot of cute clothes as well shop at the kids section and so save up money on thighs and socks. Really I don't even know why kid's socks and such are cheaper than adult sized socks."  
"I don't know. Maybe it's because they use a little more cotton for the adult sized ones?"  
"It doesn't really matter why… but we're getting of subject."  
"Yeah… so Adrien is being blind you said. What did you already try? Maybe I can come up with something?" Alya asked, getting back on the subject.  
"I've tried a lot already. Like my first try was just to walk up to him and hold the mistletoe above his head, but all he did was taking the plant over and put it in a vase with water."

She remembered how she had decided to just be straight to the point with him. She had grabbed all her courage together for it, only for Adrien to think it was some sort of bouquet of flowers while it didn't even had flowers to begin with. Marinette was dumbfounded when she saw Adrien walk away with the plant, she got even more dumbfounded when he came back with the plant in a vase and placed it on the table.

"My second attempt was to hang it above the couch were we always drink our hot chocolate together, but he didn't even saw that it was hanging above us with some ribbon." Marinette continued. "And then I'm not even talking about the third attempt where I put it above the entrance to the living room. I just stood there casually at the door with a book and all he said was that I was holding my book upside down before walking to the couch. Once he sat down he noticed the plant hanging at the door and got up to take it from the door and out it back in the vase. While muttering to himself why that plant keeps being hanged at random places."

Alya was laughing into the phone loudly. She just couldn't hold it any more.

"Alya this is serious!" Marinette called out.  
"Pff… I'm… I'm very sorry… It's indeed… Very serious…"  
"Really even if I would lie on the couch in sexy lingerie with a mistletoe above me he wouldn't do anything. He would probably wonder why that plant is hanging there instead of giving me a glance. Really what have I done to deserve this?"

Another fit of laughter left Alya's throat. She could totally picture Marinette trying so hard to look sexy, probably ending in 'the draw me like one of our French girls titanic pose.', with the mistletoe hanging above her. She could picture Adrien walking in going straight to the mistletoe to remove it and put it back in the vase.

"Alya this isn't funny! Stop laughing at my misfortune!"  
"It's… It's not… Oh my gosh… I'm so… sorry… I can't… I'm dying…"

Marinette let out a groan in frustration before she sunk her face deep into a couch pillow. She waited for her best friend to finally stop laughing, however that probably will take a while.

"Okay… okay." Alya said after a while before she breathed in and out for a few times. "I'm done laughing."  
"Good, if you went on for a few more minutes, I would have hung up on you." she said as she sat straight up on the couch.  
"How harsh…" Alya said. "Anyways, have it ever crossed your mind he might not know the tradition of the mistletoe?"

Marinette stayed quiet for a while as she let Alya's words sink in. What she said didn't cross her mind when she was trying to get a kiss from him under the mistletoe. Now she thought about it, Adrien was usually lonely on the holiday, that before she started dating him. So of course he couldn't really know those romantic kind of traditions, unless Gabriel had told his so about it but Marinette doubted that.

"I never thought about that." Marinette said.  
"It would make a lot of sense though."  
"I think I should explain it to him. Thanks for pointing that possibility out."  
"You're welcome girl."

Marinette stood up from the couch and walked over to the table which still had the mistletoe in a vase on top of it. Or so she thought.

"Alya… I got to go, the mistletoe is gone… talk to you later bye, bye."  
"Bye." Alya said with a chuckle.

Marinette hung up the phone before she rushed through the house searching for the mistletoe, maybe she had put it somewhere but forgot about it?

Ten minutes later she plopped down on the couch, she couldn't find the mistletoe anywhere. She let out a sigh, she was too exhausted from rushing through the apartment that she would just get a new one later in the afternoon. She closed her eyes as she tried to relax, when she heard the front door getting unlocked. Adrien must have gotten home.

"Marinette, I'm so sorry I had no idea." Adrien exclaimed as he set a foot into the living room and came rushing towards her.  
"You had no idea about what?" she asked confused as she opened her eyes and sat straight up.  
"The Mistletoe." he said as he showed the plant in his hand.

The plant Marinette tried to find a little more than ten minutes ago, the plant that has given her more and more frustration the whole week. It was there in her boyfriend's hand.

"I was so confused I kept finding it out of its vase the past week, so I decided to take it with me to a flower shop after the photo shoot. The florist told me that it wasn't a bouquet, but a mistletoe as well as she told me the tradition of it and I'm so sorry."  
"It's alright, you didn't know."  
"But you seemed to be so upset about it whenever I took the mistletoe away… and now I know what the tradition, I understand why you felt that way."

Marinette smiled softly at him. She couldn't stay upset with him all the time. He was too much of a cute dork to be able to stay mad at him.

"I'm sorry." he apologized before he held the mistletoe above their heads.

Marinette looked up at it and blushed slightly. Adrien leaned closer and pressed his lips against hers. Marinette melted into the kiss, she had finally succeeded in getting a kiss under the mistletoe from Adrien.


	11. Day 11: Nothing Seems What It Is

Luka was sitting peacefully on the couch in the living room, guitar in his hand, pen behind his ear and a notebook on the table. For his music study he needed to write a song, which he had to play for a grade at his school. Writing new songs weren't the issue for him, he got inspired almost all of the time, the fact he would get graded for it didn't scare him and he could concentrate in almost all circumstances, even when his neighbor is blasting Last Christmas on repeat.

It was around a 5 pm when his neighbor got home, he had heard the door smash shut a little louder than usually, but he didn't really thought anything of it. He sometimes shuts his door a little louder than intended on accident too. It was a few minutes later when the Christmas hit song Last Christmas by Wham began to play.

All though Christmas songs weren't really the kind of music he listened to, he didn't mind it that much and just went on with writing his song. Once he start writing music he tent to get in his own world, closing out most sounds. After an hour the song was still playing and now that he wasn't writing new songs, the sound really came through. He had to make and eat dinner after all. He ate his Pepperoni pizza once it was done, the song still played in the background and it began to annoy him. He had heard the song so many times that he had lost count.

He wished that he could go back to writing his song soon, so he could finally block that song out. However once he sat down again with his guitar in his hands, he couldn't block out the song. No matter how hard he tried to concentrate, he kept hearing the song.

Luka stood up and placed his guitar against the couch. He wanted to knock on that door and ask if his neighbor is not right in her mind or something along those lines. However he didn't know if he really should do that, after all his neighbor never complained about him playing the guitar at 11pm.

He let out a sigh and sat down again, running his fingers through his hair in frustration. How could someone even listen to that song for like two hours straight? He really didn't understand it, especially since his neighbor didn't look like someone who would listen to a song on repeat for that long.

He had seen the girl before however they never really spoke to each other apart from the good mornings, good afternoons and good evenings. The girl was pretty attractive though, even when she was checking her mail with her hair all messed up, cup of coffee in one hand, while still wearing her pajama. It was adorable to hear her mumbling to herself when she had to do a quick shopping trip and repeated the products she needed.

Maybe he was wrong about her repeating a song for such a long time? After all what did he even knew about her? He let out another sigh, as he decided just to deal with it. He took his guitar once again and began to play some of his older self-written songs, maybe that would block out the music some more.

Some more hours had passed and the song was still blasting through the walls. Luka had given it up to play guitar and just sat there on the couch staring at nothing in particular. He was going insane, if he heard George Michael one more time he would really go nuts. The song came to an end once again and he prayed it was the last time, but then the song started over again.

Luka stood up in an instant and stormed towards his front door, he opened it with force before he walked to his next door neighbor. He didn't even care that he was standing there on his socks, the song was too much and it had driven him completely insane. No matter how cute his neighbor was, he really felt like insulting her right on the spot when she opens the door.

He rang the doorbell and waited for someone to open the door, but after a minute there still wasn't anyone. He rang the doorbell again and again, yet there still wasn't anyone to open the door. Getting so fed up with the song he started to knock on the door loudly. It was then when there finally was a sign of someone even being there.

The music got turned off and a few seconds later his neighbor opened the door. Luka had all his words and insults ready to fire, however when he saw his neighbors condition he fell silent. Her eyes were puffy and red because of crying, her mascara and her eyeliner completely smutched over her face and her cheeks were still wet.

"Good evening." She greeted between her sniffs. She was obviously trying to stay strong.  
"Are you alright?" Luka asked her. He was worried by the state she was in, she was a mess.

His neighbor opened her mouth to say something, only to close it right away. Thick tears began to roll down her cheeks as she shook her head while biting on her bottom lip. A sob escaped her mouth not even ten seconds later. Luka just stood there awkwardly as his neighbor cried.

He carefully placed a hand on top of her shoulder, trying to get her attention. She looked up at him, still heavily sobbing.

"I know we don't really know each other that well, but let me invite you in my apartment. You will have some more privacy."

She nodded as she walked outside her apartment, after she had taken her key. She locked the door and then quietly followed Luka inside his apartment.

"Do you want some cinnamon tea with orange flavor?" He asked as they walked further into his apartment.  
"Yes… please." She said between her sobs.

Luka helped her towards the couch and gave her a tissue box once she sat down. His neighbor blew her nose before she sobbed again. Luka gave her a soft smile before he went to the kitchen to make two cups of tea. Once it all got prepared he took the cups and the box with sugar cubes with him to the living room.

"I don't know how you like you tea, so you should add the sugar yourself." He said as he placed everything on the coffee table.  
"Thank you." She said softly. She had calmed down while Luka was preparing the tea.

Luka a watched her as she put five sugar cubes in her cup, before she stirred it with the spoon that was already in the cup.

"You sure like your tea sweet, don't you?"  
"Oh uh… yeah… I hope that isn't bad… I can get you new sugar cubes, if it's too much I used…" She said a bit awkwardly.  
"It's okay, I think having a sweet tooth is kind of adorable."  
"Thank you…"

The air was quite awkward, but Luka didn't really expect anything else. After all this was the first time they even spoke more than a few words to each other.

"Do you want to talk about why you were so upset?" Luka asked as he took his cup into his hands. He blew at the hot liquid before he took a small sip of the drink. "You don't have too if you don't want to, but I can assure you that talking probably helps better then listening to Last Christmas."  
"My boyfriend broke up with me today… He said he fell out of love since last week but didn't want to break up right before the holidays…" She began. "He pretended that he still loved me in that way but he… he couldn't do that anymore and cut it off the day before Christmas…"

Luka remembered her boyfriend. he had seen him with her a few times before, two days ago being the most recent. The guy was blond, tall and had green eyes. He seemed to be a nice guy and they looked really happy together. He felt sorry for the girl, when he saw her with her boyfriend it looked like nothing was wrong. He guessed that the guy was probably good at hiding his feelings, which in this case was pretty selfish of him to do so. Because of that the break up came even more as a surprise then it would be if you're able to see something that's going downhill in a relationship.

"We had planned to celebrate our Christmas with my parents, we would go out for dinner at some fancy restaurant were you dance between the different dishes. It would have been amazing and I really looked forward to…" She paused and let out a sigh. "I'm so ashamed of all this… I don't even dare to call my parents to cancel it all… It was so expensive…"  
"You don't have to be ashamed of it… it's not your fault that you broke up… it's pretty unfair that he kept acting like nothing was wrong…"  
"I understand why he did that though… he knew how much I wanted to eat at that kind of restaurant… but it probably wouldn't be much fun if one of us was forcing themselves…"

She took the cup with tea in her hands and brought it towards her face. she blew at it before she took a sip.

"It's just sad I can't go anymore…" She said with a crack in her voice. "I really wanted to go but I don't have another partner to take with me… and I doubt I will find one."

New tears rolled down her cheeks. She put the cup back on the coffee table before she took a tissue to dry her cheeks with.

"I can go if you want to." Luka said before he could even think about the fact that that might be pretty weird due to the fact they never really talked before.  
"You would do that?" The girl exclaimed with a smile on her face.  
"Of course, it seems like fun."  
"But don't you have things planned tomorrow?"  
"Not really I would only visit my mother in the afternoon, but I assume that dinner is in the evening."  
"I see." she said before picking up her cup again and taking a sip of her drink. "So it's settled then?"  
"It's settled. What time do you want me to be ready?"  
"Is half past six alright?"  
"It's perfect."

His neighbor flashed a smile at him, before drinking the last bits of her drink.

"I should go now. I need to let my parents know about the situation." she said as she stood up.

"Okay, let me see you out." He said as he stood up as well before they walked towards the front door together.  
"Thank you for everything."

She opened the front door to let herself out.

"Wait before you go. May I know your name? It would be weird for tomorrow if I don't know how to call you."  
"You're right." She chuckled. "It's Marinette. What about you?"  
"Luka, the name's Luka."  
"Well then… see you tomorrow, Luka."  
she walked out of the door, only to stop and turn around once more.  
"Oh… and sorry for driving you insane with that Christmas song on repeat… I didn't want anyone to hear me cry… that's why it was so loud…"  
"It's alright. See you tomorrow Marinette."

Marinette then turned around and walked towards her own apartment next door. Luka watched her get inside before he got back inside his own apartment.


	12. Day 12: Dance The Night Away

Marinette looked at herself in the mirror, twisting and turning around in front of it. She wondered if her dress wasn't too bright for the occasion, especially since she knew Luka wasn't someone to wear brighter colors, or at least she never saw him doing so. It would have been nice to match, just so other people would think they were a couple. If others thought that then it wouldn't feel that uncomfortable to be there with someone who isn't your boyfriend or partner.

She took a glance at the clock that was hanging at her bedroom wall. It was almost half past six, almost time for Luka to pick her up at her apartment.

"The Chiffon dress it is I guess." she said to herself. Giving one more glance at it. The dress was light pink, it had a heart shaped neckline and off shoulder straps. The skirt of the dress came just above her ankles and on her right hip there was a flower made out of the same color chiffon.

She walked over to her bed to grab her small shoulder bag, checking it one more time if she had everything. The bag was black, just like the high heels and necklace she was wearing.

The doorbell rang the moment she just finished checking her bag. She quickly walked towards the door, taking her jacket of the coat rack before opening the door.

"Good evening." He said with a smile on his face, before he took a quick glance over Marinette's dress. "You look beautiful."  
"Thank you. You look good yourself too." she returned the compliment. "I never thought we we match."

Luka was wearing a black suit combined with a black tie and a light pink colored dress shirt.

"Yeah… This is the only dress shirt I have… It used to be white but it accidentally got into the washing machine with the red colored clothing… I don't really wear those things often so I kind of forgot about it until I looked into my wardrobe."  
"It does suit you quite well."

Luka smiled at her as he thanked her. She then stepped out of her apartment, now putting on her jacket before she closed the door behind her and she locked it.

"My parents' house is nearby, it's only a fifteen minute walk away. So I hope that's alright. We will take the car from there towards the restaurant, my father will be driving." she said as they walked towards the elevator.  
"That's fine. Those minutes will give us some time to get to know each other, I don't know anything about you apart From the fact you got a sweet tooth."  
"Well, all I know about you is that you play the guitar and like to play 'till late at night."  
"It doesn't bother you, does it? You could always tell me if it does."  
"No, it doesn't. I like it quite a lot actually. The songs you play at night are always relaxing and calming. It makes me feel less stressed after a tough day, so please don't stop with that."  
"I'm glad to hear you like it. Most songs I play are self-written songs for my study." Luka said as he pressed the button for the elevator.

Marinette looked at him with widened eyes, she had never thought that those quality melodies were self-written. Luka chuckled at her reaction. The elevator dinged before the doors opened. They walked inside and pressed the button for the ground floor.

"You write your own music? That's so cool." Marinette said as the doors of the elevator closed. "Those melodies sounds so pretty."  
"Thank you. Maybe I can play something for you some time, without a wall in between."  
"I would love that!"

The doors of the elevator opener again once they were at the ground floor. They walked towards the exit of the building. The cold December air blew against their skin. Marinette buried her face into her scarf, hoping that would warm her up a bit more. Luka didn't whore a coat, only his jacket of his suit was what him protected from the cold.

"Are you still in school?" Luka asked after a while as they walked through the streets.  
"School? Uh… yeah." she said a bit taken back by the sudden question. "I'm in my second year of my bachelor fashion design and technology."  
"That's really cool, so you make all your clothes yourself?"  
"Not all of them." she giggled "But I think 60% is self-made in my wardrobe."

Luka chuckled at her answer. The two of them came by a red traffic light and stopped in front of it.

"So what about you? What exactly do you study in Music?" Marinette asked curiously.  
"Music in general I guess? After this study I will be able to start as freelancer as a performing artist, clinician, producer, songwriter, arranger or composer. It's pretty broad to choose from."  
"which would you prefer of them all?"  
"Either a songwriter or composer or maybe both, I'm not sure yet, It's my second year, so I still got time to decide."  
"All options you got would be amazing."  
"What will you be doing after your study? I'm sure fashion is pretty broad as well."  
"To be honest I don't know anymore… I wanted to try and get a job at Gabriel, as it has been my dream since I was little... I mean Gabriel knows what he is doing with designing, he himself had even complimented my designs before and basically told me I was gifted with talent… However his son broke up with me yesterday… he's a full time model and I don't know if I could face him." Marinette spoke softly.

Luka stayed quiet for a moment as he looked at Marinette. He just wanted to say something when the light turned green and they had to cross the road.

"You're going to give up your dream because of a guy?" He asked once they had crossed the road.  
"I'm not sure yet… It's pretty recent so I won't take actions when being emotionally."  
"I really think you shouldn't give up. I know that it will be hard seeing him and such. He hurt you and you got all the rights to feel that way, but to give up your dream… Gabriel told you you got talent, so I bet he would love to have you work for him after your studies. You shouldn't let him ruin your dreams."  
"Thanks Luka, but I honestly don't know anymore. I mean what if I went true with purpusing my dream and see him at work… how am I supposed to react?"  
"Just keep your head held high, show him how successful you've got and make him see what an amazing girl he let go."  
"You think I would be able to do that?"  
"Of course! The begin would probably be though but you will manage it. I'm sure about that."

Marinette smiled at him. She was really touched by Luka's words. He was right, she shouldn't let Adrien ruin her dreams when she had fought for it for so long to get closer and closer to make it come true.

The rest of the walk they continued to talk about their lives and things they like. Marinette had discovered that Luka loved Jagged Stone's music, that he despise Mango, Goes to do yoga every Sunday and that he enjoyed pineapple on his pizza, All though that isn't his favorite pizza. His favorite pizza is pepperoni pizza with extra cheese.

Marinette had shared some stuff about her as well. She told him that her parents run a bakery and that that is probably the reason why she had a sweet tooth. She told him she was a big fan of Jagged Stone and that she always listened to his songs when designing. They enjoyed chatting so much that they almost didn't realize they already arrived at her parents' house.

"Mamma, Papa, we're here." Marinette called out as she opened the door of her parent's house, she still has a spare key of the house.

The two walked further into the house, greeting her parents when they saw them sitting on the couch in the living room. Her mother was wearing a Qipao dress and her father was wearing a neat black suit. Luka introduced himself politely and thanked them that they allowed him to celebrate Christmas with them. Her parents were really kind to him and asked him about what he does for a living. Luka answered their questions kindly and eventually ask something about her parents living as well.

Marinette had called her parents the night before to explain everything that had happened. Her father got pretty angry about what Adrien did to his little girl and her mother was angry with Adrien too, as well feeling sorry for Marinette. Marinette was glad her parents didn't bring up her ex in a conversation, and didn't assume Luka to be her date or ask him too personal questions. They got along well and that was what mattered most to Marinette.

A few minutes later Marinette was sitting in the backseat with Luka, her father was driving and her mother was sitting in the passenger seat. The ride was pretty quiet, only the music played softly in the background. It always was like that, since her father needed to concentrate when driving.

after a twenty minute ride they arrived at the restaurant. The restaurant was big both on the outside and inside and was decorated with beautiful Christmas lights. Marinette loved the sight of it already.

Her eyes widened even more after a waiter had taken their jackets and leaded them to the dining hall. The room was huge and divided in two sections, one of them being completely empty so there is space to dance and on the other section had tables placed neatly in rows. another waiter took the four of them to their table and offered them a cup of coffee while waiting for every guest to arrive, they were one of the first after all.

The other guests soon arrived and before they knew it beautiful music began to play as the waiters and waitresses began to give out the first appetizer which was a small plate with four kind of pieces baguette, all having different kinds of spreads on top of it and placed on the plate like an artwork. With the first appetizer the waiters and waitresses handed out wine and water to drink with it. Marinette got pretty excited after seeing the first dish, it looked so pretty and delicious. She felt like she was in heaven after she took her first bite and judging by the others expressions they were too.

"Do you want to go and dance?" Luka asked Marinette after everyone at the table had finished their food.  
"I would love to." She said with a smile.

They both stood up and walked towards the dance floor where some other couples were already dancing. Luka placed one hand on her waist while the other took her hand in his. Marinette then placed her free hand on his shoulder before they began to move over the dance floor.

"I had no idea you could dance so well." Marinette said with a smile, she really was enjoying herself.  
"You're doing quite well too." He complimented her with a smile.

Other than small talk they didn't talk while dancing, but either way they both enjoyed it. Marinette felt like she was a fairytale princess, dancing with the prince on his ball. However it wasn't a prince she was dancing with, it was her neighbor. Her neighbor she happen to have quite some things in common with. They danced for a few more songs before they returned to their table as the next dish was being handed out again.

The whole night went like that, they would eat delicious food, drink wine, dance and got knowing looks by her parents. However Marinette was sure she only noticed her parents looks. At first she felt slightly uncomfortable when she saw her parents look like that at her, they always did when she was being close with a man while being single, but the more wine they drunk the less she cared about the knowing looks.

The time always flies by when you're having fun and this occasion was no exception. It was already time for desert with coffee, which was the last course of the night. She saw how Luka looked in discuss to his desert that was standing in front of him on the table. It was a Greek yogurt decorated with three pieces of mango. Marinette let out a laugh as her tipsy mind remembered the fact that Luka despise mango.

"Here take it." He said not even giving her the chance to say yes or no to it as he held his fork with a piece of mango in front of her face.

Marinette giggled before she opened her mouth allowing him to feed her the mango. Unlike Luka, Marinette loved mango. It even was one of her favorite fruits. Luka continued to feed her the other Mango pieces before he began to eat his yogurt that was now mango free, or well so he thought. The yogurt itself was mango flavored. He looked with disgust as he continued to eat the yogurt despite disliking it so much. He didn't want to come off as rude because he didn't ate his desert.

Marinette thought it was pretty sweet and smiled at him as she took a glance at him eating every now and then. Once desert was over and most people were at least a little bit tipsy, the orchestra music got turned off and songs such as 'Take On Me' and 'Never Gonna Give You Up' began to play. Both finding this the most hilarious thing of the night, got towards the dance floor and began to dance to those kinds of songs. They both laughed while having fun embarrassing themselves to each other, however they both didn't care as the wine was a huge influence of the way they acted.

The last few songs began to play and came to an end in no time. They went to get their coats before getting back to the car. The car ride home was just as quiet like when they went to the restaurant. Marinette had found herself getting tired, her eyelids getting heavier and she soon falling asleep with her head on Luka's shoulder.

Luka woke her up, once the car arrived in front of their apartment building. She let out a groan as she was torn away from her sleep. Luka helped her out of the car as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. They thanked he parents for the ride home and for the amazing evening they had before they got inside the building.

They took the elevator up to the fourth floor and walked to their apartments. Luka being a gentleman he is walked her towards her front door. Marinette opened her door before she turned to Luka.

"Thank you for wanting to come with me. I really had a lot of fun." She said with a sweet smile.  
"You're very welcome. I really had a great time as well."

They stood there quietly for a moment, staring at each other. Just as Luka wanted to turn around Marinette stepped closer to him and quickly pressed her lips against his. She then turned around and slamming the door shut in front of Luka, who stood there frozen on his spot. Marinette felt her face start to burn as a blush spread over her cheeks. Afraid that it had scared Luka away she looked through the peephole, only to see him standing there taken back by surprise as he touched his lips with his fingers.

Marinette leaned against the door and let out a dreamy sigh. Maybe, just maybe their relationship as neighbors could bloom into something more. However that was something to think about later, as it was time for her to find her bed and sleep.


	13. Day 13: An Emotional Drunk Confession

It was a cold night, the wind blew with a bit of force over the rooftops. Chat Noir was standing on a rooftop as he looked at the surroundings in the Parisian streets. He didn't celebrate Christmas anymore, so he offered Ladybug that he would go on patrol on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. At first Ladybug disagreed with it, but he convinced her that she should celebrate those days it with her friends and family.

The Night itself was pretty peaceful as laughter of friends and family, who were outside, filled the air. He had been able to move on from the sadness he felt and the jealousy toward others for being able to celebrate it with friends and family. Instead he was able to gain joy from seeing others having fun and enjoying the holidays together. It warmed his heart to see couples walk around while holding hands.

Whenever he saw those couples he would go down and hold his baton that had a mistletoe bond to it above the heads of the couple he saw. He always got the same reaction which was adorable, the couple would blush or laugh awkwardly before they would kiss under the mistletoe. After the kiss he would wish them a merry Christmas before he left again.

He would make kids their days as well, whenever he happen to see one. He would go down from the roofs towards them and talk a bit. He let them tell what they asked Santa for Christmas and what they did so far in the holidays. Afterwards he would give the kids a hug and go on a picture with them before he would leave again.

Of course he helped people at his night too, mostly drunk people though. He would help them get save home, making sure they were alright and put them into bed. He would then leave after he left a small bottle of water, some aspirins and a note in which he wished them a happy Christmas. He carried those things around all night in a bag.

It was nice to be able to do that and interact with the citizens like this. He enjoyed those kind of Christmases.

He was just about to move to another roof when he spotted a black haired girl wobbling on her legs as she walked through the street. She was obviously drunk. Chat Noir walked towards the edge of the rooftop before he extended his baton so he could go down safely. Once he had landed onto the ground he realized that he knew the drunk girl.

"Marinette?" He called out.

The girl look up surprised but her expression softened soon enough. She smiled at him dreamily as she got closer towards him.

"Kitty." she said with a slur in her voice. "Are you here to save me?"  
"Save you? Is there something wrong? Is that why you're out here drunk?"

Marinette nodded, only to cause her to lose her balance and fall into Chat Noir's chest.

"I was at the Christmas party of the year… You know the one everyone talks about… I had a few drinks… and then some guy came over to me… He started talking to me… asking to go with him… I said no but he pressed on… So I left right away… I don't know where he is… but I'm glad you're here…"

Chat Noir held her close. It seems like Marinette wouldn't keep a trauma from it, if he judged it by the way she told it. He just wanted to tell he will bring her home when his cat ears picked up the sound of someone trying to slip away. He looked into the direction it came from only to see some guy probably in their mid-twenties trying to sneak away. Without a word he extended his baton, causing the guy to lose his balance and fall face first onto the ground.

"I hope next time you will leave women alone. That they are drunk doesn't mean you should take advantage of them. You understand?" he said as he stood next to the man, Marinette standing close behind him.

The man nodded before he stood up as quick as he could and ran away. Normally Chat Noir wouldn't hurt citizens, but the action this man was trying to do was just as worse as an Akuma attack. He hated these types of guys.

"Let's get you home." Chat Noir said as he turned to Marinette.

Marinette nodded softly this time and let Chat Noir pick her up in his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled close into his chest. Once Marinette was adjusted in his arms he extended his baton and made his way over the rooftops towards her house.

Chat Noir had known her for five years now, both as Chat Noir and Adrien. In those five years he had grown fond of her, there was something about the girl that makes him want to protect her. All though he didn't really had a clue why. Maybe because she's one of his friends?

He carefully placed her onto her feet as he landed on her balcony. He opened the trapdoor to her room before he guided her inside. She still was pretty drunk and he didn't want her to get drunk when going down from her balcony to her room. Once they were inside he closed the trapdoor, so the cold air would stay outside. He then helped put off her shoes and jacket and placed it next to her bed. It only now that he realized how scantily dressed she was. The only piece of clothing that covered her body was a dark red mini strapless dress. He looked away hoping she wouldn't see the blush spread over his cheeks.

"Is… Is something wrong?" she asked unsure of herself why Chat Noir acted like that all of a sudden. The slur in her voice still being there.  
"No… Nothing is wrong." he said quickly.  
"Why… Are you acting like that?"  
"Like what?"  
"Looking away all of a sudden… do you think this dress doesn't suit me…? Do I look ugly in it…?"

Chat Noir slowly turned his head towards her. How could she think that he doesn't think it suits her just because he looked a way to hide his blush? The dress looked beautiful on her and showed of her curves the best way possible. He knew that it was the alcohol why she was saying things like that, but it worried him a bit though since most likely drunk people speaks the truth.

"You're not ugly… You look beautiful and the dress suits you perfectly." he told her honestly.  
"Then why did you look away so quickly… You never did that before… So why did you act like that now…" she said with a crack in her voice.  
"I...uh… the dress… It's… a pretty scantily piece of clothing…"

Marinette looked down sadly at her mattress as she pulled her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around her bare legs.

"So… you don't like what you see…" she said as she sniffed while tears began to roll down her cheeks.  
"What no… That's not true… It's the opposite! I like it what I see in front of me." he said quickly.

They stayed quiet for a while, Marinette's sniffing being the only sound in the room

"Oh gosh that sounded wrong… I should go." he said before opening the trapdoor to the balcony again.

Just as he was about to leave, Marinette grabbed his tail like her life depended on it.

"Don't go… please." she said as a sob left her throat.

Chat Noir stopped moving and slowly got back inside, taking a seat near her after he closed the trapdoor for the second time that night. He couldn't leave her like that, what was he thinking? She was upset.

"I won't leave… I will stay a while longer so please don't cry." he said, worried her parents would hear her and come check on her.  
"I wanted to have some time with you… We used to do that so many times but lately you didn't stop by as often anymore…" she said, still sobbing between her words.

She was right, he used to drop by quite often. They would have some tea with cookies and just talk about anything at her balcony. However due to getting older his schedule got tighter and tighter. Mostly because his father wants him to take over the company and so he had to study more as well as starting working there almost full time. Due to that he had less time to transform, sometimes even patrol was hard to fit into his schedule.

"I'm sorry…" he said softly… "I wish I had more time to drop by…"  
"I miss you… I miss you so much… I had hoped you would be there at the party… However that was stupid to think… Why would a hero be at some party anyways…" she paused for a bit before she continued. "I wanted to impress you with my dress. Make you notice me if you happen to be there… But all I got was attention from. Guys I don't even know nor even want to get to know better…"

He stayed quiet as he let her talk, her slur had become a little less but her sobbing made it harder to understand her. He managed to understand her words though, he just needed to concentrate on the words a bit more.

"I'm so ashamed you have to see me so drunk… And had to save me from the trouble I got into… You must think I'm some stupid attention seeker or something…"  
"Don't say that… I don't think you're like that. You're a great girl, Marinette. Please don't bring yourself down, you're perfect just the way you are."  
"But if you think I'm perfect… Then why… Why don't you notice how I feel…"

Chat Noir looked at her in a bit of confusion. What was it what she felt and he didn't notice?

"I love you… I love you so much and you never noticed… I want to stay with you, get to know you, hug you and kiss you like there is no tomorrow…" her sobs became louder each sentence she spoke out. "I have tried so hard to make you notice me that way… But it hurts so much that you don't notice me… I've tried to move on… But I can't…"  
"Marinette… I'm sorry I didn't notice." Chat Noir said as he pulled her into a hug.

She snuggled closer the moment his arms had wrapped around her shivering body. She was so fragile at the moment as she cried her heart out. She kept repeating how much she loved him and how much he meant to her. Chat Noir didn't really know how to react to her drunken confession though. He didn't even know how he felt about her. Yes she meant a lot to her and he wanted to protect her at all costs… But was it love? He didn't knew that. Also he wasn't sure she would even remember the events that happened the moment she wakes up in the morning. Should he pretend it never happened or should he let her know about it in a note for her to read when she's sober?

Marinette calmed down after a while as the tiredness began to kick in. She yawned as her sobs had turned into soft sniffs every now and then.

"You should go to sleep." Chat said after a while as he carefully laid Marinette down on her bed.  
"I don't want to just -" she cut herself off with a yawn. "Yet…"  
"You can't even keep your eyes open."  
"I don't care… I don't want to sleep just yet… I don't want to lose you."  
"You won't lose me, princess. I'll be able to drop by tomorrow is that alright?"  
"You promise?"  
"I'll promise."  
"Okay…"

Chat Noir helped her get under the covers and tucked her in. He smiled as he saw that Marinette drifted off to sleep in an instant. He took out a small bottle of water and some aspirin out of the bag he was carrying around all night and placed it on her night stand. He then took his notebook and pen and began to write his note.

' _Good Morning, Princess._

 _I hope you got well rested, it was a tough night for you fill of emotions, so I hope you won't have to deal with a bad hangover because if all the alcohol and dehydration of all the tears you let out. We can talk about it if you want to, I'll drop by tonight._

 _See you then,_

 _Chat Noir.'_

He folded the note and then placed it next to the bottle of water before he left through the trapdoor.


	14. Day 14: A Cold Christmas

Ladybug landed on the balcony of her house, she had just finished patrol for tonight. She walked towards the trapdoor that leaded to her room, she couldn't wait to get under her blankets with a cup of tea to warm up. However when she tried to open it, panic began to surface in her mind.

"No… please don't tell me this is true…" she said to herself.

The trapdoor was locked and didn't even give a sign of movement when she tried to pull it open. She let out an annoyed groan before she went to check the windows and doors again with no success. All windows and doors were locked and of course she had to forget her key at home. She had sworn she left the trapdoor unlocked, it must have been closed with too much force causing it to lock it itself.

Ladybug sat down on the ground on her balcony. Where should she go to? She couldn't call her parents since they were in China for the holidays and wouldn't be back until a day before New Year's Eve. She also couldn't go to Alya as she was with Nino and Marinette didn't want to ruin their romantic Christmas. So basically there was no one she could go to.

Deciding it was useless to stay on her balcony she decided to take a walk through the Parisian streets. There weren't much people outside as it was already getting pretty late. She wrapped her arms around her as she shivered slightly. The suit does a good job keeping her warm, however the temperature of the cold December nights were just too cold. However, it always did a better job at keeping her warm then her pajama she was wearing before she transformed. She really regretted that she didn't put on warmer clothes before leaving. If she would transform back in this cold, she would probably freeze to death. She really hoped Tikki would be able to keep up her transformation until she found a place to stay.

Some big car drove past her right through a puddle of muddy snow that was on the road, causing it to splatter all over Ladybug. She sent the car a glare wanting to curse at the driver, but restrained from doing so. The car was already gone anyways and she didn't want someone to catch her cursing while she's supposed to be a role model for younger children. The muddy snow dripped down her body as she continued to walk through the streets, while shivering.

"I'm so going to catch a cold." She mumbled to herself.

She could barely feel her feet and hands at this point and the cold wind that had become stronger didn't help either. She spotted a bench some time later and walked over to it. She was sick of the cold and all the walking through Paris. She had no idea where she was and she longed for warm blankets and tea. She sat down on the bench, pulling her knees up to her chin and wrapping her arms around it as she shivers. It was so cold.

Some cars drove by every now and then, not even seeing her and worry if she was alright. They probably were too busy minding their own things. Who could she blame though, it was Christmas day tomorrow and everyone wanted to be home on time so they would be well rested the next day.

However, just as she was to give up her faith in humanity a big expensive looking car stopped on the road. The back door of the car opened and a blond guy walked out, wearing a winter coat and a blue knitted scarf. Ladybug's eyes widened as she realized it wasn't just a blond guy, it was Adrien.

"Ladybug." he called out. "Are you okay?"  
"I'm fine… just cold… " She said while still shivering.

They stayed quiet for a moment, awkwardness filling the air around them as they got shy to speak or simply didn't know what to say next.

"What… What are you doing out here so late? Are you still on patrol?" Adrien asked after a while breaking the awkward silence.  
"I just finished… but… uh… I…" She paused and took a deep breath. "I locked myself out of my house and now I got nowhere to go… and it's just so cold."

Adrien unzipped his coat and put it off before he wrapped it around her shivering body.

"Do you want to stay over at my place…?" he asked with a deep blush spread over his cheeks. "We got enough spare rooms, so you'll have some privacy."

Ladybug blushed when he asked her to stay over at his place, her crush was asking her to stay over at his place. How should she react on that? Should she do it? Would that be a good idea?

Who was she kidding, of course she should take this opportunity. She couldn't go anywhere else and he was offering a place for her to stay at a place where she wouldn't be freezing to death over the night.

"That… that would be very kind of you." She said a bit shyly.

She stood up from the bench and followed Adrien towards the car. He opened the door for her and helped her to get inside before he closed it again and went to the other side to get into the car himself.

The ride towards the Agreste mansion was awkward. It was quiet and the stares she got from his driver felt quite intimidating. She ended up looking outside of the window, but unfortunately that didn't really help to make her less awkward. However she was glad the heater was on in the car, she was finally able to feel her feet and hands again.

After a ten minute ride the car stopped in front of the mansion. She had seen it more then once but every time she saw it again it was huge. Adrien was the first one to step out of the car, he got over to the other side and opened the door for Ladybug once again. Ladybug blushed and thanked him before they walked towards the front door.

Once they got inside they were greeted by Nathalie. She looked surprised when she saw Ladybug standing next to Adrien.

"Adrien, you know fully well that your father don't want you to have any visitors at this hour of the day, despite if your guest is a superhero or not." She spoke strictly.  
"But Nathalie, she has nowhere to go to. I can't let her sleep outside in the cold, it's freezing out there and we got lots of extra rooms, I'm sure there is a room where she can stay."  
"All rooms are being remodeled at the moment Adrien. I'm afraid there won't be any left were she can sleep."  
"Then she can stay in my room. Please Nathalie, I don't want to send her back into the cold."  
"Alright." She sighed. "Only this once."  
"Thank you Nathalie."

Ladybugs heart skipped a beat as Adrien stood up against his father's assistant for her and said he didn't wanted to go back into the cold. It was so sweet of him. However she blushed when she realized that she would be sleeping with Adrien in the same room.

They walked up towards his room. Ladybug could feel her heart beat faster the closer they got. However the moment she stepped into the room her earrings began to beep, signaling that the five minute countdown has begun. She looked around, slightly in panic as she couldn't really find a place to hide.

"You can hide in the bathroom." Adrien said as he pointed to the door that leaded to his private bathroom.  
"Thank you." She said before rushing to the door. she opened it and got inside, sticking her head out from behind it as her earrings began to beep for a second time. "Do you have some cookies? Or anything else sweet?"  
"I will see what I have."

Ladybug watched him leaving the room before she closed the bathroom door and locked it.

"Spots off." She said.

A pink light appeared as she transformed back. she caught Tikki just in time, she seems to be really tired.

"I'm so sorry I tired you out like that…" Marinette apologized.  
"It's alright, Marinette. I'm glad you're save inside and not outside in the cold." Tikki spoke weakly.  
"Adrien is getting something sweet for you to eat, but after you've powered up I need to transform again… There isn't another room available and I need to figure out how to stay at his room without my identity being in danger."  
"Just make sure you don't reveal yourself."  
"I will Tikki."

A knock on the door brought their attention to the one standing at the other side.

"Ladybug, I got some chocolate chip cookies. I hope that's alright."  
"Thank you it's perfect."

She slowly unlocked the door and opened it just enough to be able to take the small plate of cookies. Once she got it, she closed the door again and held the plate in front of Tikki, who gladly took one of the cookies.

"It will take a while until I'll be able to leave the bathroom." Marinette said as she leaned against the door with her back. "We really need to think of a way to not bring my identity at risk while sleeping in the same room…"

She blushed madly as she reminded herself that they will be sleeping in the same room. Adrien didn't seem to say something so she continued to talk.

"I can trust you right? I can't keep my transformation up all night… so you have to promise me you won't look who I really am when I'm still asleep."  
"Of course you can trust me… I would never invaded your personal space and make you uncomfortable. So I promise I won't look when you're de-transformed."  
"Thank you."

Marinette looked at Tikki as she munched on her cookie. She was already a bit more energized then she was a little while ago.

"So… do you have anything like a mask or something for me to use?" she asked. She hadn't heard him walk away from the door, so she assumed that he was still there.  
"Actually, I do. I got this sleeping mask I only use when I got a long flight or a flight at night when I got a photo shoot or fashion show outside the country." He said. "I can look it up if you want to."  
"A sleeping mask… that would be perfect."

Marinette was glad that she didn't stumbled over her words so much while talking to him, however that probably was because of the fact she didn't see him. She would most likely do so once she get back into his bed room.

"Also I think it's best for me to sleep on the couch." She said after a while. "I don't mind it at all, I'm already glad that I got a place to stay for the night."  
"Are you sure?" He asked. "You could use my bed... and then I'll sleep on the couch instead. Don't feel bothered to… do so…" He sounded flustered.

Marinette blushed madly at his words. Sleep in his bed? She would be sleeping there alone, but still it would be Adrien's bed she would be sleeping in. She wouldn't be able to do that. That was just too much for her heart to handle.

"N-no… It's fine… Really it is… The couch is perfect… You should sleep in your own bed… besides it's better that way… when someone else walks into the room tomorrow they won't be able to see be right away as the back of the couch will block my out from their view…" She said stumbling over her words.  
"Okay, if you insist… I'll be looking for that sleeping mask for you, I will see you later when you're ready to get out of there.

With that Marinette heard him walk away from the bathroom door. She let out a sigh as she touched her cheeks, they felt so warm. She was glad Tikki was still eating so she still had time to cool down a bit before getting back inside.

"I'm ready." Tikki said after some more minutes had passed.  
"Alright, Tikki spots on!" Marinette said.

The pink light appeared as she transformed into ladybug. She quickly stood up from the ground and took one look into the mirror before she left the bathroom. Once she got into the room, she noticed the blankets and pillows Adrien had put on the couch for her to use. She walked over to it seeing the sleeping mask lying on top of a pillow.

"Thank you so much for everything..." She said with a soft smile on her face. "I… I really appreciate it what you're doing for me…"  
"It's no problem…"  
"I should go to bed then… The coldness pretty much tired me out…"  
"That's alright, I'll will go soon too."

Ladybug laid down onto the couch under the covers after she had put the sleeping mask onto of her own mask. She heard Adrien walking through his room, followed by the light switch being turned off and then heard him walking towards his bed. She heard Adrien adjust himself under his covers on his bed before there was no sound anymore.

"Good night, Ladybug." he said.  
"Good night, Adrien." Ladybug said before she dropped her transformation.


	15. Day 15: Snow, Tears And Kisses

"Why do you keep doing that?!" Ladybug exclaimed, her eyes glittered by the tears that had appeared in the corners of her eyes. They just had defeated another Akuma.

The Akuma was a strong one, one that literally played with fire. The victim apparently had gotten really upset when their gingerbread houses had burnt in the oven and for some reason it wanted to burn all the houses in Paris as revenge. In battle the Akuma had been shooting blazes at the heroes, trying to burn to ashes. Ladybug and Chat Noir were able to dodge it all quite easily until the Akuma had cornered them and shot a blaze towards ladybug. The flames reached her quickly, so if it wasn't for Chat Noir she would have been hit pretty badly. She had been pushed out of the way by Chat Noir, causing him to take the hit instead. The suit did protect him, however he had some burns over his face.

"Because I care for you!" He said as stood in front of Ladybug. He hated fighting with her.  
"You could have had died!"  
"But I didn't!"  
"You got your face burned pretty badly!"  
"It got cured in the end!"  
"What if it didn't?!"  
"Then I would have been glad it wasn't you who got their face burned!"

Ladybug stood quietly on the snowed flat rooftop. Tears streamed down her cheeks, she didn't like it to fight with her partner. She had told him countless times before he should stop taking hits for her. Usually he would always argue with throwing the 'You're the only one that can bring things back to normal.' argument, but today he didn't. Or at least he hadn't brought it up just yet.

"Why Chat? Why do you keep doing this?" she asked. "I told you to stop taking hits for me."  
"I know… but I care a lot for you. I don't want you to get hurt…" He said as he looked into her blue bell eyes.  
"I don't want you to get hurt either."

Chat Noir opened his mouth to say something but he closed it again, deciding to stay quiet instead. The vibe around them was still tense, combined with the sadness of both hearts not wanting to lose the other.

"I don't… I don't want to lose you…" Ladybug said as she began to sob. "You mean a lot to me… and I don't want my partner to be gone for good... You should just let me take a hit that was directed towards me… instead of jumping in front of me…"  
"I'm sorry… I can't do that, my lady…"

Ladybug buried her face into the palms of her hands, her body trembled as her sobs became heavier. Chat Noir slowly walked towards Ladybug, his heart sunk by seeing his lady so upset. He hesitantly reached his hand out to her.

"Ladybug… I'm sorry, but I can't do nothing when you're about to get hurt." Chat Noir said as he placed his hand on top of her shoulder.  
"You don't understand it, do you?" Ladybug exclaimed with a crack in her voice as she slapped Chat Noir's hand away.

She didn't want him to try and make his recklessness seems to be alright, she didn't want him to calm her down and let him get away with yet another hit he had taken for her. He had to understand that it was enough, that she couldn't take his recklessness anymore and that she couldn't lose him.

"I can't even imagine a world without you."

Chat Noir couldn't find the words to say. He had no idea that his lady felt that way.

"If I lose you… I can't be ladybug anymore… I don't want anyone else as a partner… because… because I… I love you." She said as she looked back up at Chat Noir.

Chat Noir could feel his heart race, his lady loves him. She loves him, Ladybug loves him.

"You… you love me…?" he asked. He couldn't help it to have a hard time to believe it.  
"I do... I love you so much... I'm sorry that I rejected you so many times… I just realized it…."

Another silence fell. Ladybug had calmed down a little but soft sobs left her mouth every now and then. Ladybug looked down at her feet, the silence killed her on the inside. She had just confessed how she felt and Chat didn't say anything other than asking if she loves him. Of course she had hoped she could have told him differently though, saying something like that with an angry tone didn't made it romantic. As the time passed she began to regret even saying it, the silence was getting too much for her. She wanted to leave, but she couldn't. It was like her feet were glued to the roof.

"Ladybug…" He called out her name softly a little later. "Look at me."

Ladybug looked up at him, the tears were still rolling down her cheeks. He got closer towards her and cupped both of her cheeks. He wiped her tears away with his thumbs as he looked at her in the eyes.

"I can't imagine a world without you either, my lady." He said softly and tenderly. "You mean the world to me and I would do anything to protect you, because I can't live without you."

Ladybug looked at him with widened eyes, her heart was beating fast and butterflies fluttered through her stomach. He had told her many times how he felt about her before, but she always thought it was just in a flirty and no serious way. However, this time he didn't had that playful smile on his face, instead it was a soft one. His eyes didn't give her that flirty look either, instead it was a look full of love mixed with the look of fear to lose her.

"I know that you have asked me many times to stop taking hits for you, but I just can't let someone hurt you. This really will be a thing we would never agree on with each other and it probably will cause more arguments in the future, but I want you to know that I do take hits for you because I love you."

The sound of their Miraculouses interrupted the moment as the five minute countdown had begun. They knew they should probably leave before they would transform back, but they both didn't want to leave the other behind.

Without saying anything Chat Noir leaded Ladybug to sit on the flat roof, he then took his seat behind her, both having their back against each other's. The roof was pretty big and since they sat down on it in the middle, no one from below would even be able to see them.

"You're right… we probably won't agree on it together… but I want you to understand that I will do the exact same thing for the exact same reason as you." Ladybug said, she had been able to calm herself down.

Their Miraculouses beeped again.

"At least we now know our feelings are mutual." Chat Noir said happily.  
"Yeah… I'm glad about that…" She spoke softly.

Their Miraculouses beeped for the third time.

"Seriously it feels like I've won the lottery or something."

Ladybug giggled at Chat Noir's remark. It made her heart flutter to know that she had made him so happy by telling him she loved him, even though it wasn't a romantic confession.

"I'm still sorry I rejected you so many times… even when I started to feel something, I still rejected you… I thought that you weren't serious as you always said it with that playful smirk of yours."

Their Miraculous beeped for the fourth time.

"I might have said it in a flirty way, but I've always been serious about my feelings for you Bugaboo."

The final beep was there, a bright pink and green light flashed as they transform back into their civilian selves.

"May I hold your hand?" Adrien asked.  
"Sure you can… you don't have to ask." Marinette replied.

Adrien let his right hand roamed over the snowy rooftop trying to find Marinette's hand. Once he found it he took hers in his and made smoothing circles with his thumb on the back of her hand.

"You're hands are soft, my lady."

Marinette giggled. The snow was cold but it didn't bother her that much as she concentrated on her partner's hand holding hers.

"It's nice to hold hands, Chaton."

Some more time passed as they held hands in a comfortable silence. In the main time Tikki and Plagg had gotten something to eat to power up.

"Um… Ladybug… Can… Can I kiss you…" Adrien said shyly after a while.  
"We… we can't… we can't turn around… we will see each other's identities…" Marinette stumbled over her words as a bright blush spread over her cheeks.  
"We can keep our eyes closed…"  
"Okay, Kitty."

Both teens closed their eyes before they turned around while still holding each other's hand. Adrien let his hand slide up over Marinette's arm, he then reached her shoulder and slide his hand towards her neck. Marinette squeaked a little when his cold hand touched the crook of her neck and squeezed his hand between her cheek and shoulder. Adrien's hand than cupped her cheek, now he knew where it was. He let his hand move around over her cheek as he was trying to locate her lips. Marinette let out a giggle as the feeling was quite ticklish.

Once Adrien had located her mouth he leaned in for a kiss, only to miss her mouth completely and ended up placing a kiss on her chin awkwardly.

"That's not my mouth." Marinette laughed.  
"Oh hush, it's way more difficult than I thought it would be."

Marinette wanted to say something but got cut off by Adrien's lips being pressed on her own. She melted into the kiss, as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Adrien wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer towards him. The kiss got more passionate, as Adrien put a bit more pressure into the kiss. This caused Marinette to lose her balance, falling with her back into the snow while pulling Adrien along with her.

"Really, Tikki? Do they have to do that while we're eating? It makes me lose my appetite." Plagg said annoyed as the two teenagers made out in front of their Kwami's.  
"Just let them be, Plagg." Tikki sighed. "It's cute."  
"Cute? Disgusting you mean?"  
"Oh shut up. We should let them kiss in peace."

With that Tikki pushed Plagg away from their holders, giving them some more privacy.


	16. Day 16: A Different Light

"Marinette, are you ready? It's almost time for you to meet up with Chat Noir." Tikki said as she flew towards Marinette who was still busy working on her present for Chat Noir.

"I'm almost finished Tikki. I just have to add a few more details." Marinette said as she embroidered a small green cat paw on the hat she had crocheted herself. She had been working on a matching hat, scarf and gloves all Chat Noir themed, the last few days.

"Finished!" She said happily before she put the gifts in the colorful gift bag. "I'm ready. Tikki, Spots on!"

The bright pink light flashed in her room as she transformed into Ladybug, once she was transformed she picked up the gift bag from her desk. She climbed up the stairs towards her trapdoor and left her room through it.

She swung from roof to roof as she made her way to the Eiffel Tower. It has become their place to hangout whenever they had agreed on having a monthly hangout. Of course they were still cautioned about not telling too much details of their personal life, but it was nice to get to know each other better outside the weekly patrols and Akuma fights.

She saw Chat already waiting on the Eiffel Tower as she got closer to the Parisian monument. She hoped that he didn't had to wait that long.

"Ah, Good evening, my lady." Chat Noir greeted as Ladybug landed gracefully next to him.  
"Good evening, Chaton. I hope I didn't make you wait too long. I still had to finish some parts of your gift. That's why I'm a bit later."  
"It's alright. I just got here five minutes ago."

They both flashed each other a smile before they sat down. Once they sat down Ladybug was the first to hand her gift over to him. Chat Noir had taken it with both hands and placed it on his lap before he looked inside it. He slowly lifted the hat with cat ears and a small cat paw on it and held it in front of him. He looked at it with widened eyes in surprise. He knew that Ladybug liked to make clothing and of course he thought she would be good at it, but he never thought it would look like it was from an actual store.

"You really made it? It's perfect!" he exclaimed before he put the hat on.  
"I did, but that's not all. There is more in the bag." Ladybug said with a smile on her face.

Chat Noir took the rest out of the bag, still surprised by every piece he got.

"It matches!" he exclaimed as he wrapped the scarf around his neck and put on the gloves. "And the gloves have green cat paws on the palm of the hands. This is amazing my lady."

Ladybug giggled by his excitement. It was really adorable how he reacted about her crocheted gift for him.

"I'm glad you like it, Chaton."  
"Like it? I love it! It's perfect!"

Ladybug blushed by the compliment. She had put so much effort in making it perfect, so hearing he loved her work made her really happy.

"I hope you will like my present. I made something myself too, but it's not perfect… It was my first time doing something like this so I hope you think it's good enough to wear." he said as he gave her a present wrapped in wrapping paper.

Ladybug took the present and placed it on her lap before she removed the wrapping paper. Once it got opened she saw two red with black polka dot items. The first thing was a knitted hat. It indeed wasn't perfect. There were some holes in it as he probably forgot a few stiches and the black dots weren't really dots. But even so to her the hat was beautiful, because she could see how much effort he put into it to make it the best he could.

"You told me how you're ears gets cold so easily in the cold and rainy weather." Chat Noir said.  
"Chat…" she breathed out, looking with widened eyes at him as he seemed to remember such a small detail. "I've said that half a year ago at a weather themed Akuma battle."  
"yeah?"  
"I had never thought you would remember such a small detail. I'm speechless."

Ladybug put the hat on, her heart was by now beating faster. He was such a sweetheart. She then took the second thing from her present and held it in front of her. It was a knitted sweater. Again there were some holes in it due to forgetting a stitch here and there, as well as not all circles were round. The sleeves were quite long and the body of the sweater looked quite big.

"I didn't knew what size you had so I actually took my own as a guide… I'm sorry if it's too big…"  
"No, It's perfect. Now I can snuggle in it and keep my hands warm in the sleeves." She said as she put it on.

The sweater was way too big for her, but that didn't matter. To her it was perfect.

"You really did a good job for a first time knitting." She complemented with a soft smile.  
"You really think so?" Chat Noir asked with a smile on his face. "I've put a lot of effort in it!"  
"I know, I can see that."

Chat Noir's smile grew even more, he was so happy that his lady liked his gift and saw the effort he had put into it. Ladybug could feel her heart flutter by the sight of her happy partner. She adored him, she really did. He was funny, kind, always there for her, his happiness made her just as happy as he was and then she wasn't even talking about the fact he remembered small details of things she had told him such a long time ago. A soft smile appeared on her face and butterflies began to fly through her stomach as she thought back of Chat Noir remembering that she got cold ears quite fast when it's cold.

"Thank you for celebrating Christmas with me like this." Chat Noir said after a while after he stared at the sky that was full of bright stars. "It feels nice to finally have someone to celebrate it with."

Ladybug looked at him with a soft expression on her face, she knew about the bad relationship he had with his father and about his mother that wasn't there anymore. She was glad that she was able to offer him some sort of support and made him feel less lonely when they met up.

"I'm really grateful to have you. You're amazing."

Ladybug blushed, all those kind words made her feel so special. The way he said it in a serious yet tender tone, it made her heart melt. It was like he was a different Chat Noir… no, that's not it… She had finally opened her eyes and saw what a great and kind person he was. Her heart skipped a beat when he turned to face her and flashed her an adorable sweet smile full of love. That was when she realized she actually has feelings for him, she only realized it now that she had seen him in a different light.

"I'm really grateful to have you too." Ladybug said as she shoved closer to Chat Noir, she placed her head on his shoulder and snuggled against his arm. "And I love celebrating Christmas like this with you too."

Chat Noir smiled at her before he laid his head on top of hers. Both enjoyed each other's company as they quietly watched the Parisian skyline.

"Merry Christmas, Bugaboo."  
"Merry Christmas, Chaton."


	17. Day 17: Baileys And Margarita

"Finally Christmas break it there!" Alya cheered loudly.

The group of four were out in the early night, looking for a pub so they could celebrate the start of their two week break. However, finding one was though as more students had the same idea as them.

"I hope we will be able to find a pub that isn't completely packed with other people soon." Nino said.  
"Yeah… I'm getting a bit tired of walking and I don't want to walk the whole way back late at night…" Marinette said.  
"I can always bring you home after we're done." Adrien said. "I promised Nathalie not to drink too much since I can't turn up tomorrow with a hangover at the shoot."  
"Dude, you're missing the point. Those days are there to drink until you feel half dead the next morning."

Marinette and Adrien looked at each other and shook their heads, obviously their friends had a total different vision of celebrating the start of the holidays.

"Thanks Adrien, I would like to take that offer when needed." Marinette said with a kind smile as she ignored Nino's remark about how celebrating the star of their break is supposed to be.

She herself wasn't planning on getting drunk either. First of all she was a sentimentality and emotion drunk. After she got to know that, she stopped right before she would end up drunk. She remembered that she literally started to cry when she accidentally knocked her glass off the bar and broke it. She felt so sorry for the glass that she kept apologizing to it as she picked up the pieces. She had begged the bartender if there was some way to save its life and began to cry even more when he told her there was nothing they could do. She so didn't want that to happen again. Secondly, besides feeling embarrassed about her sentimental drunk actions, the hangover she would feel was the worst. Her head feel like it would explode any moment and her eyes couldn't bare sunlight at all, so she had to wear a pair of sunglasses until her hangover would go away.

"I don't even want to see the point. I don't understand why you would drink so much to wake up with a killer hangover." Adrien replied to Nino.

Nino wanted to say something back but got interrupted by Alya who spotted a pub that wasn't that packed as all the others. The group of friends walked into it. Nino and Alya were being happy because they could finally drink alcohol. While Marinette and Adrien were glad they could finally sit down.

They all ordered their drinks. Nino and Alya both went straight for some cocktail, Marinette for a Chardonnay and Adrien took a coca cola. However Nino changed that into a Bacardi coke as he didn't accept that Adrien would be the only one who didn't had an alcoholic drink to toast with.

"Long Live, the Christmas break!" they cheered as they toasted before taking a sip of their drinks.  
"You don't have to drink if you don't want to." Marinette said to Adrien as he took a few more sips of his drink.  
"It's alright, I will just drink really slowly and besides one won't hurt, however I won't have any more alcoholic drinks after this one."

Marinette smiled at him before she took a small sip of her Chardonnay. Apparently, she wasn't going to be the only one planning on drinking their drink slowly.

As the Night continued, they talked a lot mostly about their plans they had planned in their break but as the night continued and mostly Alya and Nino got even more drunk, causing their activities to become sillier.

"Okay Marinette it's your turn. Luka, Nino Adrien. Fuck, marry, kill." Alya asked with a smirk on her face.  
"Fuck Luka because he is hot, marry Adrien because marriage is something big so best would be with someone I know well and kill Nino because he came up with the idea to play this ridiculous game." she said, still not believing she's playing along with this game.  
"Rude." Nino said as Marinette announced she would kill him of the three names she had gotten.

They laughed at Nino's reaction.

"Nino." Marinette said. "Rena Rouge, Mylene, Rose."  
"Fuck Rena Rouge because she awesome, marry Rose because she's too sweet to kill and then kill Mylene I guess…since I don't have any other option left." Nino answered, before he turned to Adrien. "Adrien fuck, marry, kill. Ladybug, Marinette, Chloé."  
"Fuck Ladybug cause she is amazing. Marry Marinette, because she's very kind. Kill Chloé, I think…" Adrien answered a bit unsure with his last answer, he still thought the game was a bit harsh.  
"Oh, you pick Marinette over Ladybug to marry." Nino commented as he wiggled his eyebrows.  
"Shut up." he said and rolled his eyes.

Marinette blushed by Adrien's answers. She had become more comfortable around him, but her crush on him was still there.

"Alya, fuck marry kill. Nino, Ladybug, Rena Rouge." Adrien said.  
"Fuck Ladybug, 'cause we'll she is Ladybug. Marry Nino, because he is my boyfriend. So kill Rena Rouge?"

It would have been strange to hear that your best friend would have a one night stand with your alter ego, however since she knew Rena Rouge's identity it made it less weird for Marinette that Alya picked those answers.

The continued to play more rounds of the game, until Alya and Nino got too drunk to be able to play it. Instead they began to talk about how cute their best friends look together.

"You two should really start dating, you know that." Nino began out of the blue.

Causing both Adrien and Marinette to choke on their drink and coughed at the same time.

"I bet their children would be really pretty too!" Alya exclaimed.  
"They definitely would."  
"You know Marinette always said she wanted to marry Adrien."

Marinette looked with panic in her eyes as Alya began to expose the future she had planned out when she was fourteen. She felt her cheeks heat up and her heart beat fast because of the adrenaline rushing through her veins.

"But that's not all. She planned out a future with a house, three kids, a dog and a hamster. Seriously she even already had names for the kids." Alya said with a slur in her voice.  
"She did? They must be made for each other then, because my dude here has been going on and on about this mysterious girl that sounds so much like Marinette, but he kept denying that it was her."  
"Oh damn for real? They should totally get a room already."

Marinette knew that friends were drunk and had no idea what they were even saying, but still… that was the last bit of embarrassment she could handle. Her face had already become as red as a tomato and she didn't dare to look at Adrien. She was sure she was back at square one, stuttering all over again around Adrien. Thanks to the two she calls friends.

"That's enough alcohol for today!" She said with the high pitch in her voice she would always use when she was embarrassed. "We're going home!"  
"But we haven't finished my drink just yet." Alya argued with her best friend.

Without really thinking her actions through as she picked up Alya's glass with Baileys and chucked it down in one go. After that she picked up Nino's Margarita cocktail and chunked that down in one go as well. She placed both glasses on the table like it was completely normal what she just did.

"What?" She asked a little annoyed as everyone else was watching her with widened eyes.

Marinette walked out of the pub. Adrien followed her suit as he worried about Marinette's action, While Alya and Nino stumbled behind them still laughing and talking about their 'ship'.

"You know you shouldn't have done that…" Adrien said.  
"Why not? It might not look like it, but I can handle alcohol quite well."

Or at least she could handle it quite well for now. It probably would make her a bit drunk after a while. However if that would be the case, she hoped she would get drunk when she got inside her home.

"Irish cream and lemon doesn't go well with each other… It mostly likely will make you nauseous."  
"I don't feel anything. Let bring those two back home before they embarrass us even more."  
"Just let them, they are drunk."  
"Still… it's embarrassing…"

They stayed quiet for a while as they continued to walk. They began to walk slower so Alya and Nino could catch up with them. They had to keep an eye on them after all.

"But about those future plans you had made up. Did you really plan it out?" Adrien asked, causing Marinette to blush madly.  
"I was fourteen. I was stupid and weird back then."

Adrien smiled and shook his head.

"I think that's pretty cute."  
"What about your mysterious girl? Do you have a mysterious crush?"  
"I used to, but it had vanished bit by bit over the years as someone else began to catch my attention."  
"Oh, is that so?"

Marinette could feel herself get nauseous, however she had no idea if that was because her crush likes someone else or that it was because of the alcohol some minutes ago. Before Marinette knew she felt everything in her stomach come back up. She quickly looked around before she rushed towards a trash can. She just got there in time before she threw up into it. Adrien who was shocked and worried was with her in no time, holding up her twin tails so it wouldn't get dirty.

"You own me thirty Euro's." she said as the drunk couple watched their best friends by the trash can.  
"I do not. They haven't confessed." Nino exclaimed.  
"But one of them will after they brought us home."  
"I won't pay until tomorrow. Let see if they really do get together."  
"Urgh, fine. Hopefully we will remember it, at least." Alya rolled her eyes.  
"We're going to be so dead tomorrow…"  
"Yeah… And after Marinette taking our drinks, she definitely will be to."


	18. Day 18: Fake Dating

Alya had enough of it. Around every single holiday she would get the question when she would finally get a boyfriend and bring him with her to the family dinner. She had just turned 25 a month ago and for some reason that made her family ask her about a boyfriend even more often than they used to do.

All of her family married quite early, mostly in begin of their twenties, but still that isn't a valid reason to pressure her into marriage. She wanted to make career first, have a stable allowance so she could take care of herself before she would even look for a partner. She had hoped her family would have been able to understand her, but unfortunately they didn't.

And so there was no other option left to do. Now that Christmas was getting near and her family wanted to see her with a boyfriend, she decided to make a Tinder account.

 **'** _ **Alya Césaire.  
**_ _25 years old girl in search for a fake boyfriend, to take with me to my family dinner on Christmas day. You have to be polite and kind towards them and you have to be open for more of those family meetings as there will be more coming in the future most likely._

 _Don't mind to send me a like or super like if your intention is to have a one night stand or a real relationship out of it. I've no such interest in that. So please don't waste my time if that's your intention._ '

Alya smiled at her profile. She was happy how it looks and she hoped that it would work. However the smile disappeared soon as the only one sending likes were mostly people that wanted a one nightstand with her. As well as some asking her if they could change her mind on the no real dating thing.

She had removed all chats with those people, not wanting to put more energy in it than she already had and waited for someone to react on her profile the way she wanted.

"Nino Lahiffe had sent me a super like…" Alya mumbled to herself as she saw the notification.

She clicked on it, opening the app. On her screen appeared the profile of this Nino. He looked kind of cute but you never know maybe he was one of those people that wanted to have a one nightstand. However once she looked at his profile she let out a gasp in disbelief.

 **'** _ **Nino Lahiffe.  
**_ _28 years old and desperate need for a fake girlfriend to celebrate the holidays with and to make lots of data like pictures with to show my family. If you're interested and happen to have brown hair, bruin eyes and glasses, swipe right._

 _I'm not interested in a relationship nor am I interested in one nightstands. So don't bother me with those._ '

Alya couldn't believe that there was a guy out there who was in the same situation as she was. She hesitated a bit before she swiped right. In no time a message popped up.

' _Oh my gosh. Thanks goodness you_ _swiped right!'_

Alya giggled by his first message. He definitely was really looking for a fake girlfriend.

' _Well hello there, it seems like we_ are on the same boat.

 _'Apparently we are. Seriously it's crazy you are exactly how I described my "girlfriend's" looks to my family and need a fake boyfriend for a family dinner while I told my parents that I would celebrate it at my "girlfriend's" house… I thought I could escape it like that. Turns out my mom demanded pictures…'_

 _'It still hadn't sink in with me either. But I assume you lied to your parents?'_

'Yeah… I thought that would make them shut up… but it kind of made things worse… _You see, they keep bothering me with_ _questions when I would get a girlfriend and_ _get married already… they told me I should_ _hurry up, because I will be turning 30 in_ _two years…_ _They even went as far as setting up blind_ _dates… So after date 3 they asked why I_ _didn't give any of those dates a chance._ _So I came up with the lie that I already_ _was seeing someone…_ _I told them that she had brown hair,_ _brown eyes and glasses. But they didn't_ _thought it was enough, they wanted to_ _see pictures so I promised then I would_ _show them someday… so I hope you're up_ _for making quite some date like pictures_ _and such.'_

' _I don't mind it at all, I'm willing to make our_ " _relationship" as believable as possible._ _It will benefit the both of us after all._ _My family is in the vase of bothering me_ _when I will bring home a boyfriend._ _Everyone got married in the begin of_ _their twenties, so being 25 and not_ _married yet is weird for them…_ _anyways, when was it when you said_ _you were already seeing someone?'_

' _Somewhere at the beginning of July.'_

' _I'm quite impressed that you were able to_ _avoid your parents that long with your_ _promise to show them pictures.'_

' _I was able to avoid them mostly_ _because of the fact I live on my own, but_ _they do keep calling me every now and_ _then to ask me when I will be showing_ _them pictures and ask me to tell them_ _more about the dates I went on.'_

' _I see… anyway we should start thinking_ _of a story of how we met and such. We_ _better not drop Tinder in the story. My_ _parents are quite traditional and really are_ _against meeting people from the internet.'_

' _I understand. It also wouldn't fit in my story_ _I told my parents since I told them I met_ _my_ " _girlfriend_ " _when I was getting some new_ _headphones in the city and helped her out_ _when she got lost.'_

' _I guess it's a good idea that you start with_ _telling me what you've told your parents._ _We will build up the story from there.'_

' _Okay. One sec, let me get my_ _note book first.'_

' _You've got a notebook?'_

' _Don't judge… I lied a lot okay…_ _if I didn't write it down then I would_ _have forgotten it…'_

' _Okay, I won't just let's get started with_ _operations fake dating!'_

She talked with the guy for hours, reacting to all the lies he had told his parents and adding more lies to their story. Nino told her that they have been on twenty dates doing different kind of activities, from shopping dates to visiting a zoo, to picnics and bungee jumping.

 _'Okay, with all those dates we should meet up as soon as possible so we can make evidence of our "dates". I don't have anything the rest of the week so I can meet up tomorrow.'_

 _'That's great. I don't have much to do this week too. However I won't be available most of Friday afternoon and the whole evening, I have to DJ at a Christmas Party.'_

 _'That's alright.'_

 _'So for tomorrow. How about a coffee date at this adorable cafe near the Eiffel Tower at 10 in the morning and then go on some of those dates that are on the list?'_

 _'Sounds good.'_

 _'Also don't forget to take different outfits with you. It would be weird if we wore the same outfit all the time.'_

 _'Good thinking. I would love to chat more but I got to go. See you tomorrow "Darling."'_

 _"See you tomorrow "Babe"._

And just like that the following days they met up and played out those dates. Alya thought it would be pretty awkward to meet up with a stranger and pretend to be dating, but once they met it felt very natural like they were really dating. Alya was glad about the comfortableness since it really made the pictures look real.

She had a lot of fun too those days, however it did tire her out as well. It were a lot of activities that they did on one day. So once she got how she would just plop down on the couch and chat with Nino, this time on WhatsApp as they had changed out their numbers at their "first date"

Because of all those "dates" the days flew by. Before she even knew it Nino was standing in front of her door to pick her up. They sang along with the Christmas song 'Baby its cold outside' as they drove to her parents' house. There she introduced Nino to her family and they welcomed him into the family with an open heart. However they were a bit disappointed she hadn't told them sooner. She played it off easily, as she told them she was a bit hesitant as she didn't really knew how she felt for him and that it just got official a few days ago.

"So how did you met?" her mother asked Nino before taking a sip of her wine.  
"I was at the city to buy some headphones when I came across your daughter, she was lost and I helped her out. I really thought she was attractive and she was very kind as she thanked me, so I decided to ask her out for a coffee. She agreed and then we had a coffee at some cute cafe near the Eiffel tower."

Alya smiled as Nino told her parents their made up story. Of course the whole talk at the dinner table was their relationship.

"After the date more followed." Alya joined in. "And after the twentieth date I realized I actually like him quite a lot."

Her parents awed at her words. They really thought it was cute. Alya was happy they seemed to believe it all, but then again they did put a lot of effort in it to make it believable.

The rest of the dinner went well too. Her parents mostly ask them to tell them more about their dates. She was happy Nino already had that worked out in his notebook, so they didn't have to come up with the stories. They were able to tell about each date with lots of excitement, both adding things to the story whenever someone missed something.

Nino also made lots of pictures and sent a few of those to his parents after dinner. His mother called him right away, saying she thinks Alya is a beautiful girl and that she wanted to meet her as soon as possible. His mother also wanted to speak to Alya, which Alya did for like twenty minutes before his mother wanted to speak with his son again. Only to tell him that Alya was a keeper.

The rest of the night was pretty nice too. They played a card game while drinking wine as the twins were already to bed. Both were joking around, saying things such as 'I thought you loved me.' as the other had beat them in a game.

The card games went on until it was around midnight, and they had to leave. They had said their goodbyes to her parents before they went out the house. It was an amazing night, which Alya wouldn't mind to repeat more often.

"I sure had a great time. You're parents are cool." Nino said as he walked her to her front door.  
"I had a great time too." She said and smiled. "I'm glad it worked out and that our parents seem to like the partners of their kids."  
"Yeah, I'm glad about that too. Really my mom already adores you and that while she has only seen your picture and spoke to you for twenty minutes."

Alya giggled about that.

"It's a good thing she likes me since we will continue with this for some more time." Alya said with a smile.  
"Yeah, we will. Anyways, what time should I pick you up to go to my parents?"  
"Is one in the afternoon alright?"  
"That's fine, I'll see you tomorrow then." Nino said as he smiled back at her.  
"See you tomorrow."

They stayed awkwardly on their place not knowing what to do for a while before both turned around and went their own way, Nino going back to his own house and Alya going inside her apartment. It was a bit strange to pretend their relationship, but they probably would get used to it soon as they will be going on "dates" in the future.


	19. Day 19: A New Member To The Family

It was a peaceful Christmas day for both Adrien and Marinette. The whole they there weren't any Akuma attack so they were able to celebrate their Christmas in peace.

Marinette had woken up extra early so she could start preparing their Christmas breakfast. She made fresh croissants, squeezed some oranges and made some coffee. Adrien walked into the living room when Marinette was setting up the dinner table there. He wished her a good morning and kissed her forehead.

He used to be an early bird, but ever since he became a stay in home dad, he woke up everything but early. Of course he had moments he had to wake up early but then he would be walking around like some zombie for the first hour.

"I'm sorry I didn't wake up sooner." Adrien said as Marinette just put the last plate she was holding onto the table.

"It's alright. I know you need your sleep. Emma and Hugo take a lot of energy." she said as she walked towards him and bopped his nose as she smiles at him. "And soon there will be a Third kitten to look after, so while you can, you should take all the sleep you can get."

Adrien looked at her in confusion first, his brain wasn't that fast to catch up with things due to the fact he just got up. Then his eyes widened and a huge happy smile appeared on his face.

"You're pregnant?!" he exclaimed in pure happiness.  
"I am." Marinette said just as happy as her husband.  
"So we're having little Louis in 9 months?"

Marinette giggled, her husband was adorable. Ever since they had been wanting to have kids they had talked about names. Marinette told him she wanted three kids and had the names Hugo, Emma and Louis. She hoped it to be that order as she loved the idea of Emma having an older brother, however fate had different plans and Emma was the first to be born.

"If the baby is a boy, then yes."

Adrien wrapped his arms around Marinette's waist and picked her up before he spun around. Marinette squeaked in surprise as well as warn him to look out for the table. After awhile he put her down and smiled.

"When are we going to tell the kids?"  
"I think in January. With Christmas and New Year's coming up, I think it's best to postpone it a bit. They are already excited about it and they do have the enthusiasm of someone after all."  
"Says the one who nearly freak out because of enthusiasm, because Adrien Agreste had asked you out."  
"I was fourteen…" she pouted and crossed her arms over her chest.  
"I know." he chuckled and pressed a kiss on top of her temple.

The alarm of the oven went off, signaling that the croissants were done.

"Oh, the croissants are ready." Marinette said before she walked towards the kitchen.  
"Did you say croissants?" Adrien said as he followed his wife into the kitchen. "Can I have one?"  
"You can have one at breakfast."

Adrien stayed quiet, he knew how his wife was when it came to Marinette got the croissants out of the oven and placed them in a bowl with a kitchen tong. She then squeezed some oranges and put the juice in a can, before she made some coffee.

"Can you wake up the kids for breakfast?"  
"Of course."

Adrien left the kitchen to wake up the kids while Marinette placed the croissants and the drinks on the table. A few minutes later the six year old Emma and the four year old Hugo came running into the living room. Adrien came a bit later back into the living room.

"Can we see what Santa brought for us?" Emma said as she stood in front of her mother.  
"Can we?! Can we?!" Hugo exclaimed excitedly.  
"After breakfast, dears." Marinette told her kids.

The kids awed in disappointment but took their seat at the table, or well Emma sat down herself and Hugo got help from his father to get safely on the chair. Marinette poured the orange juice into the glasses, while Adrien gave everyone a croissant before they took their seats at the table.

Breakfast was very enjoyable. The kids each told their parents that they hoped Santa got them the gift they really wanted to have most, which was a kitten. However they had to disappoint them on that since a cat can't be around with a pregnant woman, so instead Marinette had sent Adrien out to get a rabbit instead. He had wondered why they didn't got them a kitten, but Marinette was able to make him buy a rabbit without revealing the real reason just yet. She had told him that she didn't like the smell from the litter box of a cat and that rabbits were a way better option since they didn't smell as well that rabbits are the best pet to start off with. Now that he knew about her pregnancy, he probably knows the real reason to not have a cat by now.

Once dinner was over, the kids rushed towards the tree. They opened their gifts with joy as they got some of the presents that were on their lists. Emma got a crafting set, pencils, a sketch book and some markers. Hugo got some toy cars and a Pikachu plush doll. However they were confused when there was rabbit food, rabbit toys and a rabbit cage in their presents. It all felt in place when they opened the box that had air holes in it and saw the small black rabbit in it. All though it wasn't a cat, both of them loved it already.

"So how are you going to name it?" Marinette asked them.

The kids looked up at their mother before replying at the same time.

"Ladybug."  
"Chat Noir."

Both parents smiled as they thought it was ironic they wanted to call the rabbit after their alter egos without even knowing it. Both kids grew up with the Parisian heroes as a role model and really looked up to them. Marinette and Adrien wished they could tell them but it wasn't safe, Hawk Moth was still out there. If one of them got kidnapped by him and they could only get them back in exchange for their miraculouses, they would do that in a heartbeat. Also kids don't have any filter so they could accidentally reveal them to the rest of France. So it was best not to tell them. Or at least not yet, maybe they can tell them when they are older or when all the danger is gone.

"Ladybug is a stupid name. It's not even a ladybug." Emma said.  
"It isn't a cat too." Hugo argued back.  
"Calm down guys. The rabbit don't like shouting." Adrien said as he took a seat on the floor in front of their kids and the box with the rabbit.  
"Sorry rabbit…" They both apologized.  
"Why don't we call her Ladynoir?"  
"How do you know she is a lady?" Emma asked.  
"Because I can see she is very lady like and since she is black, Ladynoir would fit her perfectly."  
"Ladynoir is nice!" Hugo said  
"Yeah I like it too." Emma joined in.  
"Well then it's official Ladynoir is part of our family now."

Marinette smiled at the scene, Adrien sure was good at making the kids get along after an argument.

"Papa and Mamma will make the cage ready for Ladynoir. Since she is new here she needs to get used to the sounds in our house first. So you can't play with her just yet." Marinette said.  
"When can we play with her?" Emma asked.  
"In a few days."  
"That's so long…" Hugo pouted.  
"I know, but you want her to feel at ease when at home right?" Marinette asked. Hugo nodded. "Well, then she need to be able to have the time to get used to her new home.

The kids later went off to play with their gifts while Marinette and Adrien got the cage ready and Ladynoir was waiting in her box.

"I saw what you did there chaton." Marinette said. "You really let them name the rabbit to the ship name Alya came up with on her blog for Chat Noir and Ladybug."  
"It fits the rabbit perfectly." Adrien said with a playful smirk on his face, Marinette knew that he was loving this name just as much, if not more, as their kids do.  
"That might be, but we could had name it something completely else and convinced the kids to call her by something else."  
"Oh come on Bugaboo, I know you like the name too."  
"I admit it's cute, but still it's a bit strange though…"  
"Don't worry about it, we get used to it."  
"I guess."

The preparation of the cage got finished pretty soon. Ladynoir was now hopping in her cage as she began to discover all the new things. Emma and Hugo went to look at her from time to time, but they gave the rabbit enough alone time as well. It was nice and peaceful, just like they wanted it to be for the rest of the day.

However when it was around 5 pm, the Akuma alarm message got sent to their phones. The alarm message was the way to alert every citizen in Paris when there was an Akuma on the loose.

"Kids, I promised uncle Fu to bring you over for Christmas." Marinette said "He said he had gifts for you that Santa had delivered at his place.  
"Can Ladynoir go with us? She has to meet uncle Fu too!" Emma said happily.  
"I don't know…"  
"Please?" Hugo begged.  
"Alright, she can go along." Adrien said before Marinette could say anything.

The kids cheered as Adrien went to get Ladynoir out of her cage. Fortunately they had bought a smaller traveling rabbit cage. Adrien put Ladynoir in the travel cage, before he picked it up and walked to Marinette. The kids were already putting on their shoes in the corridor.

"I'll bring them to master Fu. I'll see you out there in a few minutes. Be safe out there my lady." Adrien said before pressing a kiss on Marinette's lips.  
"You too, be careful." Marinette said and smiled softly at him  
"I will."  
"See you."

With that Adrien went to get ready to leave with the kids and rabbit to Master Fu. Once the front door got shut, Marinette transformed and left through the attic window of their house. It seems like it was too much to ask to have a piece full Christmas.


	20. Day 20: Christmas At Master Fu's

Adrien start the engine of the car when he had put everyone in the car and buckled them up. He had put LadyNoir next to him so he could keep an eye on her, he wasn't sure the belt would do with all those corners and such. Now that there was an Akuma on the loose, there was a chance his driving would become a bit trickier.

As they were driving, Adrien spotted Ladybug swinging past his car towards the Akuma. The kids got pretty excited seeing her, however Adrien wasn't but pretended to be so for his kids. Of course he loves his wife with all his heart and he loved to see her as both Marinette and Ladybug. All though in those situations he didn't wanted to see her as Ladybug, because where Ladybug is there is an Akuma.

He sighed as he still could see Ladybug swinging away in front of them. He hoped she would soon take a corner in the direction they weren't heading too, which unfortunately she didn't. The Akuma was near the Seine, it was some giant monster that controlled water. Great, again some element controlling Akuma.

Adrien could feel the worried stare of his wife as he had to pass the Akuma with his car, which was only 5 meters away. He really hated those kind of moment, apart from controlling water Adrien didn't knew anything more of the Akuma and so the Akuma was pretty unpredictable.

He pressed the Gas pedal almost completely in, causing the car to make more speed. Since this wasn't by far the first time he had to ride so recklessly, he was able to doge the water beam that got aimed on the car and took the first turn he could take. He knew that his Lady would keep the Akuma busy so he could let his speed become less as they continued to get to Master Fu's place.

A few minutes later he arrived at Master Fu's place. The kids rushed towards him as he just opened the door to give their uncle a hug. They told him enthusiastic about the way their father dodged the Akuma attack and how cool he did that. Adrien was glad that they didn't really see the danger of the Akuma's and can't really think of what could had happen with them. It makes it a lot easier to deal with the Akuma attacks.

"Thank you for looking after the kids whenever an Akuma appears, we really appreciate it, Master." Adrien said to Master Fu when the kids were already in the living room.

The kids had run off to the living room due to the fact that Master Fu has cookies standing on the small coffee table.

"It's no problem Adrien." Master Fu said. "You should go now, Paris needs you."  
"Yeah… By the way, this is LadyNoir their new rabbit. They wanted to take it with them to you. I hope you don't mind." Adrien said as he handed Master Fu the rabbit.  
"It's fine."  
"Thanks a lot! I will come over with Marinette after the Akuma is purified there is something we have to talk about after."  
"I'll make sure the water is hot by then."

With that Adrien had left to transform. Master Fu closed the door and walked to the Living room with LadyNoir in his hand. Emma and Hugo were sitting at the table as they munched on their chocolate chip cookies. He smiled at them, as he saw how much both of them represent their parents.

Master Fu walked over to them and placed the rabbit on the table.

"Mamma said you got a present for us from Santa!" Hugo said with his mouthful.

Master Fu laughed. He knew what the boy was talking about. He, Marinette and Adrien had discussed what reason they could use to if there happen to be an Akuma at Christmas. They came up with the idea of Master Fu having gifts from Santa. After all it would be the only reason that would succeed.

"I certainly do, but we will have something to drink and eat first." Master Fu said. ""Would you two like some lemonade and pancakes?"

Both kids nodded, they loved the lemonade they got from Master Fu and even the pancakes he baked was very loved with the kids, they even told him that his pancakes were even better than the ones made by their mother. He always made the lemonade and pancakes extra sweet for them, much to their parents dislike. All though Marinette got grown up in a bakery with the sweetest pastries imaginable, she did try to keep the sugary goods in their house as less as possible. Of course they got sweet things, but it was just a normal amount. After all she didn't want her kids to go through the same dentist experience she has to go through as a kid because of all the cavities.

However Master Fu liked to spoil the kids from time to time. All though he was dubbed as their uncle, he was more acting like a grandparent with all the sweets and presents he would give them. In the aspect of spoiling the kids, he was a combination of Tom and Gabriel. Tom loved to spoil the kids with pastries, her mom being just like her dad doubled the spoiling. Gabriel was the grandfather that would buy any present the kids wanted to have, no matter what price it cost or how much effort he had to put into it to get it, he would make it work. However this was pretty strange to Adrien and Marinette to see, as they knew how bad of a father he was to his son. They guessed that it was maybe because of feeling guilty for not being there for his son when he grew up and now take a second chance showing he can be a warmhearted man by spoiling his grandchildren.

Master Fu soon got back with a tray with two plastic glasses filled with sweet lemonade, three plates with pancakes and a cup of tea for himself on top of it. He placed the drinks and foods on the table. They ate their Pancakes and drunk their drinks before Master Fu collected the empty cups and plates and brought it to the kitchen. After that he went to get the gifts for the kids.

"This one is for Emma." He said as he handed Emma her present. "And this one is for Hugo." He handed the gift to him.

The kids ripped the paper of the gift in joy, both revealing a book once the paper was thrown somewhere in the room. Emma got a book that was filled with fairytales, that she would be able to read herself if she wanted to and Hugo got a book full of pictures of dragons and knights. They both thanked Santa out loud of the gift before they went to show their gifts at Ladynoir.

They didn't even have Ladynoir for an hour, but they already were seeing the rabbit as their family. Ladynoir however was still a bit tense, due to the car ride she has become quite shocked and a little stressed out. It wasn't surprising that she would be like that, however the kids didn't really understand that.

"Can we get Ladynoir out of her cage?" Emma asked.  
"Please!" Hugo pleaded.

Master Fu ran his fingers through his little beard as he thought about it. He the rabbit looked quite stressed in her tiny cage, so maybe when he got some more space she would calm down.

"Okay we let her walk around the living room." he said.

The kids cheered happily in responds. Master Fu took the cage and placed it on the ground. He then closed the door so Ladynoir wouldn't have the chance to run away. After that he opened the cage and sat down on the floor with Emma and Hugo.

Ladynoir hopped carefully out of the cage and looked around her surroundings. She didn't showed much movement though as she was still a bit attentively.

"Why isn't she moving just yet?" Hugo asked. "I want to pet her."  
"Can we get closer to her instead?" Emma asked.  
"Be patient, Ladynoir will get to you when she is ready."  
"But we don't have patience…" Emma said.  
"Yeah we can't wait."  
"Patience isn't simply the ability to wait, it's how we behave while we're waiting."

The kids nodded and then looked back at the rabbit. Master Fu chuckled he knew that the kids didn't really understood the wise things he shared from time to time, they were a little bit too young for that. Marinette and Adrien often had to explain to the kids what he meant with all those kind of sayings.

"Reach your hand out to her, she will get to you when she is ready to meet you. Stay calm and peaceful while doing so. Animals are amazing creatures that can feel when a human being is stressed or annoyed." Master Fu said as he reached his hand out to Ladynoir.

The kids watched what he was doing. They then looked at Ladynoir who was now slowly hoping to Master Fu's hand. Once she got there she sniffed at his hand. Master Fu then carefully petted Ladynoir's head, which she now allowed. The kids looked in awe as Master Fu was able to get Ladynoir over to him. They quickly copied what he did and patiently waited for Ladynoir to get over. It took some time but in the end they were able to pet their rabbit.

They continued to play with Ladynoir who had gotten way more comfortable with the kids, while Master Fu watched over them.

"I think you're parents are here." he said when the doorbell rang. "We should put her back in her cage. We don't want her to run away."

The kids nodded and let Master Fu pick up the rabbit and put it back in her cage. He then walked towards the door and opened it revealing the arguing couple.

"You told what?" Marinette asked.  
"Come on Bugaboo we need to make a plan as soon as possible, we need a temporary Ladybug."  
"We can't tell him now, the kids are there and besides I'm just pregnant for a few weeks."

Master Fu let out a cough, getting the attention of the two in no time. They probably didn't notice he had already opened the door for them.

"If a pregnancy is the case, then we do need to talk." Master Fu said calmly.

Marinette and Adrien just looked at him, still a bit in. Shock of his sudden appearance and embarrassed of the fact he had found out about it through an argument he wasn't supposed to hear. Master Fu told them to get inside, and they quietly followed him.

"Take a seat in the living room, I will get the tea."

Marinette and Adrien nodded. They walked into the living room while Master Fu went to the kitchen to prepare some tea. Once they got there Emma and Hugo got to them to show off their books they got from Santa. As well as told them they were allowed to play with Ladynoir. They weren't really that glad with the latter though, since they had said the kids could play with the rabbit a few days later. However they didn't let the kids know that.

Master Fu came back with three cups with tea and some lemonade for the kids to drink. He gave the drinks to the kids and told them to entertain themselves and not to disturb them as they needed to talk about important adult matters. The kids listened and went to play at the other side of the room, as far as possible from Master Fu and their Parents.

"We're so sorry you had to find out about my pregnancy through an argument." Marinette apologized right away.  
"And we're so sorry we were having an argument in front of your front door."  
"It's alright, you two don't need to apologize. I've known some of the past Ladybugs and Chat Noirs, even then they happen to have heated arguments while I was there too."  
"How many have you known?" Marinette asked curiously.  
"I've known five duos before you two became the new Ladybug and Chat Noir. Usually the Miraculous holders quit at the age between forty and fifty. Mostly because they couldn't keep up with their civilian lives and superhero lives or just because they thought it was getting too dangerous."  
"So… we have to quit between those years?" Adrien asked a bit hesitant. He didn't want to give up his miraculous just yet, he loved it too much and he knew Marinette was thinking the same thing.  
"No, you don't have to. It's your own choose when you want to stop. I've had a duo that quit when they were thirty five as well as a duo that continued until they were eighty years old."

Adrien could feel the tense feeling he got, the moment master Fu shared the age that most holders retired, slip off his shoulders.

"It's your choice when you want to retire, I don't have a saying it that." he said before he turned to Marinette. "Just like it's your choice how long you want to continue to be Ladybug before you go on a hiatus."

Marinette nodded. She knew about that fact already, she had been through two pregnancies before after all. She continued until she was pregnant for fourteen weeks, right after she had grown a bit of a baby bump. This was because she wanted to show Paris that she was pregnant and if she happened to disappear out of nowhere and some other ladybug appears, it would be temporary because of that reason. Of course they lied about how many weeks Ladybug was pregnant, just so it wouldn't be that suspicious when Marinette was pregnant at the exact same time. It worked quite well so they did the exact same thing when she was pregnant of Hugo.

However now that Hawk Moth got even more powerful than the years before, she knew Adrien would want her to go in hiatus right away. She understood her husband, but she was just pregnant for just two weeks. That would mean she would be in Hiatus for eight and a half months, excluding the extra weeks she needed to rest and take care of her baby. She didn't know if she could do that, she would miss Tikki a lot as she needed to be by the temporary holder all the time.

"I know that. I would like to continue with it until the fourteenth week just like last pregnancies, but I know that Mr. Agreste here doesn't agree with that." Marinette said.  
"Of course I wouldn't agree with that, you saw this Akuma we just fought. It's more powerful than the Akuma we fought last week and it probably will continue like that. Akuma fights might have become less with the time, but my gut is telling me Hawk Moth just got pickier on his victims and only chooses the ones that would become powerful Akuma's. There is no way I would sent a pregnant woman in Akuma battles that gets worse and worse each time."  
"I know that…" Marinette said and sighed. "I will go visit Alya tonight to tell her the news that we need her as temporary Ladybug again and that she could expect a visit of you again."

Alya had been a good candidate for the Ladybug earrings ever since the first pregnancy Marinette got through. First of all she had super hero experience as Rena Rouge and secondly she knew the ins and outs about Ladybugs powers. In the years her blog had grown pretty big and now she even has people working for her to make pictures and videos. So her blog would still be able to run with new material even though she would be the one saving Paris.

"You sure you want to go on hiatus already?" Master Fu asked. "You're the one that should make the choice, not your husband. Although I do understand that he would have a saying in this as well."  
"I don't want to just yet, but it's the best for the baby. I don't want it to get hurt. Besides, Adrien does have a point, the Akuma attacks are getting worse every week."  
"Okay. You can give the miraculous at your friend any time, just make sure to notify me when she's the one holding on the Ladybug earrings."  
"We will."

The adults drank their tea while they talked a little more about the unborn baby and Alya being the temporary Ladybug again, until an hour or so had passed. Adrien had gotten the kids ready so they could go back home. They all said their goodbyes to Master Fu before they left. The kids where all happy of the way how they spent the evening with Master Fu and Ladynoir.

Once they got home Adrien put the kids into bed. They fell asleep quite quickly so Adrien was able to leave their room. He got back into the living room only to see Ladybug placing Ladynoir back in her bigger cage that was standing in the living room.

"Hey, you don't have to do it right now. You can visit Alya a few days later." Adrien said softly as he wrapped his arms around Ladybug.  
"I know… but it's better to deal with it soon. I will make a statement that I'm pregnant so she can post it on her blog and after that got recorded, I will tell her she will be the temporary Ladybug once again."  
"Do you want me to go with you?"  
"No, I will do this on my own. I don't want to leave the kids alone late at night."  
"I understand. Good luck."  
"Thank you. I'll see you later."

Ladybug pressed a kiss on Adrien's lips before she got out of his embrace and walked to the window. She opened it before she swung out of the window.


	21. Day 21: Merry Bromas

Marinette, Alya, Nino and Adrien stood at the bus station were those touting busses picked people up. Alya had surprised Marinette with a one week skiing trip in Austria. It was almost 11:00 am, just 20 more minutes until the bus will arrive to take the girl to Vienna in Austria. The ride would take 18 hours so they would arrive there in the morning on Christmas day.

The girls really looked forward to the trip, however the guys were a little less excited about it. Of course they were happy for them that they would go skiing in a foreign country, but on the other hand now they didn't really knew what to do with themselves on Christmas day. Adrien didn't really had family to celebrate it with, and Nino didn't want to let his best bud down during the holidays.

"Make sure to message me when you get there." Adrien told Marinette when the drove onto the station.  
"I will message you once we get there, but don't expect me to text you all the time. I'll be skiing out there most of the time as well as enjoying the small pubs over there at night." Marinette said as she touched the tip of his nose playfully.

She knew how clingy Adrien could get from time to time, as well that he could worry a lot when she didn't let anything hear from her. Sometimes it was a bit tiring, but on the other hand it was quite adorable as well. However the reason why he was like that was pretty sad. When he was younger he happened to be awake when his mother was about to leave the house for good, she told him back then that she would comeback soon. Although days had become months, which had become years of waiting. He still believed that his mother would come back one day, but the hope he has was starting to die more and more each passing days. Due to that he had gotten a fear of losing the ones he loved and cared for deeply, causing him to overthink the lack of replies that she had left him or that she had gotten hurt. His father's relationship didn't help in this situation at all, as he had never praised his son, nor let he knew him that he cared for him a lot. Due to that Adrien tented to be a bit hesitant about believing that others loved him or cared for him.

Marinette remembered to struggle with it a lot in the beginning but in the end they were able to make it work. Adrien had told his story of why he was like that and Marinette was able to tell him what kind of signals that behavior sent to her. It was also that day they had a good talk that Marinette was able to convince him that she loved him with all her heart and would never leave him out of the blue.

"Will you at least text me when you get back into your hotel room?" He asked her as he looked her into her eyes, the worrying of her getting hurt was something that still hadn't become less.  
"I will, but please don't stay up until you get the text. It will tire you out if you would do that."

Adrien nodded. He was glad that Marinette didn't get that annoyed anymore with all his worrying. Marinette smiled at him before she wrapped her arms around Adrien's neck and pressed her lips on his. Adrien closed his eyes and kissed her back as he wrapped his arms around her waist to pull her closer. It would take a while until they would be able to kiss each other again, so they could better make the most out of it.

A flash of a camera made them broke their kiss. It was Alya who had taken a picture with her camera of the two. Alya knew that Marinette would miss her boyfriend a lot too and all though she had heard her best friend say that she wouldn't text him a lot, she knew that Marinette would have a hard time doing so. So maybe a picture of the two could cheer her up a little.

Nino and Alya on the other hand were a couple that was more lay back. They loved each other but also gave each other enough space to do other things as well. So Alya leaving to Austria for a whole week and Nino staying behind in France wasn't that much of a big deal to them. Of course they would miss each other a bit, but they knew that the week would be over in no time. Or well it would for Alya, Nino wasn't that sure of it as he had no idea what he would be doing throughout the week.

"I hope you will have a lot of fun there." Nino said before pressing a kiss on Alya's cheek.  
"I'm sure we will have fun. There is a lot planned out that week, so we will be fine." Alya said with a smile. "Oh before I forget… Marinette probably didn't ask you because she doesn't want to bother you, but could you keep an eye on Adrien for her. You know how he is quite the over thinker and she didn't want him to go through that alone on Christmas and all."  
"Don't worry, I was already planning on spending the week with him as much as possible. You can tell Marinette that everything will be fine here."  
"Thank you dear."

The group walked towards the bus, the guys helping the girls with their luggage. Once that was all being put in the trunk of the bus, Alya and Marinette walked to the driver to scan their bus tickets. The driver scanned their tickets, checked their ID cards and then let them into the bus. Nino and Adrien stood outside as they waited for the girls to take a seat. It took just a minute before they had picked a seat at the side of the bus were they would be able to see each other through the window.

Once all the passengers were inside the bus, the driver got in and closed the door and soon drove away with the bus. Marinette, Alya, Nino and Adrien waved until they were out of sight of each other.

"Are you alright, dude?" Nino asked once he notice Adrien standing completely still and his stare being aimed in the direction the bus has drove off to.  
"I'm just a bit scared something would happen to her… it's an 18 hour bus ride. What if she got uncomfortable in the bus? Or it starts snowing way too much and then she has to stay in a cold bus for days?"  
"Dude, please chill a bit. I understand you're worried, really I do. It's the first time Alya and I are both in other countries, and it worries me too that I won't be able to get to her fast enough if she needed me. But I do know that she is an amazing grown up woman who can take care for herself and knows what she's doing and I'm sure Marinette is capable of doing so too. Besides, they got each other so I'm sure everything will be fine."  
"You're right… They will be fine."

Nino wrapped an arm around Adrien's shoulder.

"We should go back home." Nino said as he pulled Adrien along. "By the way do you have any plans for Christmas?"  
"No I haven't made any plans."  
"Good. Me neither."

Nino took Adrien to Adrien's apartment. He would have taken him to his and Alya's apartment, but due to all the packing it had become a complete mess. However once they got into Adrien's apartment Nino got shocked, this because there was no decoration to be seen.

"Where is all the Christmas decoration?" Nino asked shocked.  
"I've been at Marinette's place since the beginning of December, so I kind of forgot about setting everything up at my own place…" Adrien admitted sheepishly.

Nino face-palmed and shook his head. He couldn't understand his friend, if he stayed at Marinette's place most of the time, why didn't he ask her to move in together or something? It was obvious those two loves each other to death, but sometimes they are quite slow with going to the next level in their relationship. After all it took them years before they started to realize they had been crushing on each other for such a long time.

"Okay, let's decorate this place first. We can't celebrate Christmas without Christmas decorations."

The got the boxes with the decorations from Adrien's basement in the apartment building, taking the three boxes with them. Once they were upstairs they started with the box that contained the fake Christmas tree and set it up. It took around an hour until the tree was into one piece and had its lights in it. After that they opened the box with the Christmas ornaments and put them into the tree.

Once the tree was completely done, the living room of Adrien's apartment looked already a lot more cozy and more Christmas like. They then opened the last box which contained different Christmas things. Things such as: CD's, figures of angels, some Christmas plush dolls and some other decoration. Nino had taken the CD with the best Christmas songs and placed it into the CD-player before he pressed play. They then continued with placing the decorations in Adrien's living room while singing along with All I want for Christmas and many other Christmas hit songs.

"This looks much better don't you think?" Nino asked as he took a good look around the decorated room.  
"It really does." Adrien agreed.

He was really happy that his best friend was there to keep him distracted. If Nino wasn't here with him, then his mind probably would have made him go insane with all the overthinking.

"Okay it's 2pm, so what about we go to the super market."  
"Um, sure? What do you want to get there?"  
"The ingredients for a gingerbread house."  
"You want us to bake it ourselves? You do know that Marinette is the baker, not me. I can't bake even when my life would be on the line."  
"It won't be that bad, we can always try."

A trip to the supermarket later the guys got back with all the ingredients they needed as well as some pre-baked gingerbread village kit, just in case they would screw up baking their own.

The mixing of the products went alright. It all got mixed pretty well together, however some of the ingredients got onto their faces and into their hair. They didn't mind that too much, as it only caused them to laugh at each other's misfortune when it was their turn to mix.

In the progress of baking they did made some pictures and sent them to their groups WhatsApp with their girlfriends. They were still in the bus so they were able to react from time to time as well as sent a picture of either themselves in the bus or the view the had from the window.

When the dough was done and rolled out they cut it into the shapes needed for the house and then placed it onto the baking tray before they put it into the oven. The baking itself went alright too, it didn't got burned however the cut out window kind of looked like a mess as the cut out squares weren't squares anymore.

They set up the table with all the frosting and candies and the ginger bread village kit as they let the pieces of their gingerbread house cool down. Since their own made Gingerbread house was still hot, they decided to start on the pre-baked kit. Adrien opened the box and got everything out of it.

The kit had four houses, so both guys picked one to start off with. They enjoyed decorating it even though the lines made with frosting wasn't neat, and some of the candy didn't stick to well. Once they had decorated their first house, they pick both another of the kit and decorated those too. This time it went slightly better as they got used a bit more to the amount of frosting needed to make a candy stick to the house.

It didn't take long until they were done with their second house. They placed it all neatly in a row and then sent a picture to the girls. Alya commented that it was such a hilarious thing that they were doing those cliché Christmas activities, while Marinette told them the houses looked cute. However, she did gave a tip that they should decorate the pieces separately first before putting the pieces together. Both guys felt a bit stupid not to think of it themselves as it made lots of sense that that way would be way easier to decorate.

Taking that tip by heart they took their own baked house and placed it on the table. Nino got to decorate the roof and ¼ of the walls of the house while Adrien decorated ¾ of the walls of the house. Decorating the way Marinette told them to do really made the house look less messy then the other four were. Once every piece was decorated and the frosting got hard, they put the pieces together. They laughed as they saw their own Gingerbread house with the other houses from the kit. Their own house was twice the size of the small village kit houses.

They quickly sent another picture to the girls before they cleaned up the mess they made while decorating. After everything was completely cleaned up they ordered a pizza to eat, as it was time for dinner. When the pizza got delivered they went to sit down on the sofa with corner seat, each of them having a pizza box on their laps.

"Since we're doing all those cliché things, why don't we watch some Christmas movies? Like The Family man or something?" Adrien said.  
"I've seen most of those Christmas movies already, but who cares let's do this."

Adrien logged into his Netflix account and put on a Christmas movie, which had become the start of a Christmas movie Marathon they would held all night long until they fall asleep.


	22. Day 22: Christmas Lights

Adrien looked out of his window. He sighed as he watched the snowflakes fall softly down from the sky, again another lonely Christmas this year, just like all the other years before. The last Christmas he could remember was the one at the age of thirteen, the last year his mother was still there. After his mother had left, his father had completely isolated himself from the outside world as well from his son.

Adrien was used to be on his own all the time at home, but he could never get used to those lonely Christmases. He knew he had friends who wouldn't mind it if he would join them, but he would feel like a bother. Christmas was supposed to be spent with family and he didn't want to ruin that. And besides that, his father probably wouldn't allow him to go anyways.

"Hey kid." Plagg said to his holder.  
"Oh hey, Plagg." he responded before he let out another sigh.  
"I'm sure this will make you feel better."

Plagg flew closer to Adrien while holding a piece of Camembert and held it out to his holder. Adrien turned his face to his kwami and smiled softly at him.

"Thanks Plagg." he said as he took the cheese.

Although he disliked the smell of the cheese, he did like the flavor of it.

"Maybe this year won't be that bad? We can celebrate it together and watch those Christmas movies. I promise I won't fall asleep this time."  
"Thanks but no thanks. I'm not really into the mood… it's been five years now that my mother isn't here… So I just want to be alone for a while. You can do whatever you want..."

Plagg stayed quiet as he flew off to read his book about cheese. He felt sad for his holder that he felt like that. He wished he could have done something to help him, but there wasn't anything else left to do apart from trying to cheer him up. Plagg looked at Adrien who was leaning on his arms against the window frame of his open window.

"You shouldn't lean against your window like that while wearing only a t-shirt. You should at least have put on a jacket." a familiar voice spoke above him.

Adrien looked up with widened eyes. Above him was ladybug hanging upside down on her yo-yo that got attached somewhere to the roof.

"L-Ladybug." Adrien stumbled over his words. "W-what are you doing here?"  
"I… uh… I happen to be in the… the neighborhood… and… It looked like you were upset… So… uh… I came to check on you if you're alright."  
"Oh… um… Thank you…"

Ladybug swung closer to the window frame and took her seat there on the left side. She sat there gracefully, one leg crossed over the other. She looked at him with concern. Adrien had no idea why, but somehow she was able to read him so easily. Or maybe it was because he allowed himself to be an open book around her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked with a sweet and gentle tone in her voice.

Adrien stood up straight and leaned with his back against the window frame. He didn't know if he should tell her how he was feeling, but on the other hand he knew that he could trust her.

"I miss my mother." he said. "It has been five years since her passing, but Christmas is still a hard time due to the fact that's her favorite holiday of the year…"

Ladybug stayed quiet. She didn't really know what to say.

"Since she passed we don't celebrate it anymore… and I don't want to bother my friends…"  
"I'm sure you won't be a bother to your friends if you want to celebrate it with them. They care for you, so I'm sure they would want you around too."  
"I know, but I can't help but feel that way… So I guess it's for the best I'm just alone this day."  
"That's not true… No one should be alone on Christmas…" Ladybug said before she reached his hand out to him. "Let me take you somewhere with me."

Adrien looked at her reached out hand. He hesitantly raised his hand towards hers, he wasn't sure if he should do it or not. What if Ladybug was supposed to celebrate Christmas with her own family? He didn't want to keep her away from that any longer than her patrol night already did.

"Let me get my jacket and scarf first." He said after a while before he walked towards his closet to get a warmer jacket and a scarf.

Ladybug watched him as he put on his jacket and the familiar blue scarf. She blushed slightly by the sight of the blue scarf wrapped around his neck. It was the scarf she had made for him and delivered it at his house as Marinette, however due to misunderstandings he never knew it was from her.

Once Adrien had put on his Jacket and scarf he got back to the window and smiled at Ladybug.

"I'm ready to go."

Ladybug nodded, she stood up and stood on the window frame, she unwrapped her yo-yo from her waist and then helped Adrien up unto the window frame. She blushed when she pulled him closer and held him as she threw her yo-yo at some building so she could swing away towards the place she had in mind.

She took him with her to the Seine. Not many people were outside at this time of the evening, which gave the two some more privacy as they walked past the Seine and looked at all the colorful lights that were there.

They didn't say much as they both were enjoying each other's company as well as the pretty lights. As they were walking the palms of their hands kept brushing against each other, causing both to blush. Their hand kept brushing against each other for a while longer until Adrien made the move to entwine their fingers together as he took her hand in his.

Ladybug could feel her heart speed up like crazy, but eventually relaxed and allowed herself to lean her head against his arm. Adrien blushed as he enjoyed the closeness.

"The lights sure are pretty don't you think?" Ladybug said.  
"It is." He agreed. "Do you know what's even more beautiful?"

Ladybug looked at him with a question look in her eyes. Adrien just smiled at her with a soft smile before he spoke again.

"You are."

Ladybug began to blush madly as Adrien just told her she was more beautiful than the pretty lights that lighten up the streets. Adrien himself blushed as he realized what he had just said. Being around his lady made him feel more comfortable and due to that his flirty personality would surface from time to time, causing him to flirt without even really knowing it.

"Wait… No I didn't mean to… I mean you are beautiful don't get me wrong… But I… I didn't mean to startle you by saying it so suddenly." Adrien said as he let go of her hand and took a step away from ladybug.  
"It's… It's alright… you're very beautiful too… you're more beautiful than I am… that's for sure."  
"No I'm not… You're like the prettiest girl I've ever met, no one could even come close to how beautiful you are both in and outside."  
"That…. That's not true…"  
"It is."  
"It is not…"

They continued like that for a while, not agreeing with one another while the blush spread over their face became redder and redder.

"We shouldn't fight like this on Christmas…" Ladybug said shyly after a while. "We should be having a good time."  
"You're right… we should just accept each other's opinion I guess…"

Ladybug nodded and smiled softly at him, as they continued to walk in silence.

"You know…" Adrien said breaking the silence, looking up at the sky full of stars before he continued. "My mother always used to take me on a walk past the Seine on Christmas. My father sometimes would join us but it usually was a mother-son thing. We did that every year as long as I can remember. I guess I missed doing this as much as I miss my mother."

There was a pause as he turned his head towards ladybug with a soft expression on his face.

"It's nice to be able to walk with someone important to you. It might sound silly, but it's kind of like a small part of my mother is here…"  
"It's not silly… I can understand you feel like that… I mean I would probably feel like that too if I happen to be in your situation."

Adrien smiled as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close to him.

"Thank you for cheering me up."  
"You're very welcome, Adrien."

They walked a bit more before it was getting quite late, they hold on to each other as Ladybug swung them around the city back to Adrien's house. It didn't take that long to get there. They let go of each other once they were inside his room.

"Thank you so much for tonight. I had a really good time." Adrien said as he stood in front of Ladybug.  
"I'm glad you had a good time. I really did so as well."

They stood still in front of each other, both not making any movement as they didn't want let the night end just yet. Adrien took a step closer to her before he placed his hand on her waist, pulling her a little closer. Ladybug in response placed her hands onto his chest as she looked up at him. They looked at each other's eyes, like they got lost in them. Ladybug bit on her bottom lip as she slowly and almost unnoticeable began to stand on her tiptoes. Adrien moved his face closer to her face. They stopped with closing the gap between them waiting for the other to make the first move.

Adrien closed the gap completely once Ladybug closed his eyes. He leaned in, pressing his lips on Ladybug's. She kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his neck. She let her fingers play with the hair of the nape of his neck. He hummed into the kiss, before he deepened the kiss a bit more.

They broke the kiss after a few minutes, they stared into each other's eyes with a blush spread over their cheeks as they tried to catch their breaths.

"I… I should go…" Ladybug stumbled of her words. "Merry Christmas, Adrien."

Ladybug pressed her lips quickly on his before she rushed towards the window. She unwrapped her yo-yo from her waist and aimed it at some building outside. She turned around one more time, only to blow a kiss at Adrien between she swung away.

"Merry Christmas, Ladybug." he said softly.

He couldn't really believe it that he had kissed Ladybug. He kissed Ladybug's soft lips that tasted like some sweet fruit. He wondered what fruit flavor her lip gloss had. Was it strawberry? Maybe it was raspberry? Or was it blueberry flavored? He didn't know, maybe he could ask her next time she would visit him.

"I told you this year might not be so bad." Plagg interrupted his thoughts.  
"Plagg what are you doing here? How long have you been here?"  
"First off, I live here Adrien… secondly unfortunately I've been here long enough to have seen your discussing kissing ritual with Ladybug."  
"Plagg… it's not discussing."  
"Kid… you're only saying that because you didn't have to look at it. If you were me you would think so too."  
"Just shut up and go read your book about cheese or something."  
"Oh I will. At least then I will be able to get that picture of you two kissing out of my mind."

With that Plagg flew off to his book. Adrien walked to the window to close it. He then leaned against the window when it was closed and looked at the skyline dreamingly while thinking about Ladybug.


	23. Day 23: With You My Christmas Is Perfect

Marinette groaned as she woke up. She rolled from her left to her right side as she wrapped her arms around her stomach. It felt like something was stabbing her from the inside and tried to tear her into pieces. She turned over to her stomach, burying her face in her pillow as she let out another groan in pain. She knew exactly what time of the month it was and she was totally not happy with the timing.

Marinette and her boyfriend Adrien were on a city trip to Germany, they had arrived the day before in the afternoon in Berlin. They had been ice skating at the ice rink that had been put up by the Neptunbrunnen that night and enjoyed some of the German snacks before they went back to their hotel.

Today they were supposed to go to the Christmas market in the city, enjoying a cup of Glühwein while walking around the market stands filled with Christmas stuff. However those plans would most likely get ruined due to Marinette's early Period.

She already felt crappy because of her period, but the fact that it started a week sooner made her feel even more like crap. She really wanted to have a great trip together with her boyfriend, especially since this was the first time Adrien went to A Christmas market as well as it was the first time that he would go to another country without business to attend for his father's company. She wanted it to be perfect, she wanted this trip to be the best trip ever for him, but Mother Nature had to ruin it with the unwanted week of the month.

She slowly slipped out of bed as she had to get her medicines out of her toiletries bag that was put in the bathroom of their hotel room. She slowly walked to the bathroom with a headache she had never asked for to get as a package deal with her period cramps and her low energy level. She needed her ibuprofen, at least then this all would be more bearable.

She opened her toiletries bag when she found it in the bath room. Digging through all the makeup, hair ties, hair brush and more she found the carton box of the medicines she needed. However when she opened it is discovered that it was completely empty.

Annoyed she walked back to the bed, she slipped back under the covers and closed her eyes again. Hopefully she would fall asleep soon, just so she wouldn't feel the pain anymore and hopefully sleep the headache away. However it was no use to close her eyes as the cramps kept bothering her. It was frustrating that she was in pain, as well as the fact there wasn't any progress in feeling better and the her low energy level didn't really help either. She kept rolling around her side of the bed, trying to lie down in a certain way that wouldn't make her feel like she was about to die of the pain.

"Marinette, what's wrong? Why are you so restless at five in the morning?" Adrien ask still half asleep.

It was only then that Marinette realized that her boyfriend was lying next to her on the bed and that she had woke him up by tossing and turning around in bed.

"I think I just got my period." Marinette said weakly due to the pain she was trying to deal with without medicines.  
"Did you take your medicines?" He asked.  
"I don't have anything left…"

Adrien grabbed his phone that lay next to his pillow and turned it on. He squeezed his eyes shut because of the bright light. He slowly opened his eyes more, when they got used to the brightness, before he unlocked his phone. He opened Google and searched for a drugstore nearby.

"There is a drugstore nearby that opens in an hour. I can get your medicines by then." Adrien said.  
"An hour…" Marinette whined. "How am I supposed to survive that…"

Adrien pressed a kiss on top of her head before he went out of bed. He then walked towards his backpack that stood on the ground a few meters from the bed and took a hot pack out of it. He squeezed it so it would start to get warm and then walked over to Marinette's side of the bed.

"Take this." He said as he gave it to her.  
"Weren't the hot packs for when we're cold outside?" She asked as she took the hot pack from Adrien and placed it against her stomach under the covers.  
"They were, but that doesn't matter, I'd rather have cold hands then to see you in pain."  
"Thank you."

Adrien knelt down next to the bed so he was one the same eye level as Marinette. He smiled softly at Marinette as he ran his fingers through her messy loose hair. She tried to smile back at him, but the pain and the guilt of ruining their Christmas together didn't make it possible to do so.

"I'll get your Ibuprofen as soon as possible, okay." he said softly.  
"I'm sorry I'm ruining this day with all this stuff…" She said softly with a crack in her voice.  
"Hey, there is no need to apologize, those things happens."  
"But it's the first time you went on a trip that isn't business related… and the first time you went to a Christmas market in general."

The tears were falling down her cheeks, she always got more emotional when she had to deal a full week with her period. Adrien knew about that and made sure to be there for her. It was sweet but sometimes it made Marinette feel like a bother as her boyfriend was the type to drop everything just to make sure to make her feel better.

"It's okay, we can always come back next year."

Marinette yawned as she felt her eyelids get heavy. She always had a soft spot when someone ran their finger through her hair, it made her relax and made her fall asleep when she was tired. Before she knew it she had fallen asleep.

Adrien continued a little longer before he stopped running his fingers through her hair. He pressed a soft kiss on her forehead before he stood back up. He was glad that he could get Marinette back to sleep, this way she wouldn't feel the pain for a little longer.

He walked towards the closet to get an outfit for the day and then walked towards the bathroom. Thirty minutes later he got back into the room, completely dressed and all freshen up for the day. He was pleased to see that Marinette was still asleep, as it was now 5:55am. He hoped she would be able to stay asleep when he went out to get her medicines. He hate the thoughts of her being alone and in pain.

Adrien put on his shoes and his coat before he went over to Marinette one more time. He placed a soft kiss on top of her head before he headed out, phone with his hotel key card and credit card in hand. The walk to the drugstore wasn't that far, it was around five minutes long. He got helped right away as he was the first customer to arrive at the store. He paid for it before he went back to the hotel.

When he got back in the hotel he placed a plastic bottle with water from his bag and placed it on her nightstand together with the ibuprofen. He then took his seat on the bed and watched Marinette sleep. He didn't have the heart to wake her up, after all he knew how low her energy level got with her period. He also knew how much she loved to drink hot chocolate, so once the Starbucks opens he would go there to get her some Salted caramel brownie hot chocolate. However that would take a while as it opens in one and a half hour.

An hour had passed when Marinette woke up again, feeling the pain right again. She sat up right and groaned as she looked around. Her boyfriend placed some of the pillows between her back and the wall so she could lean against it. Adrien then leaned close to her pressing a kiss on her cheek before he took the medicines and bottle of water from her night stand.

"I got your medicines." He said as he took one pill out of the package and gave it to her.  
"Thank you." She said before she put the pill into her mouth and took the bottle of water from Adrien.

She took a sip of the water and swallowed the pill. She was so thankful to have someone like Adrien.

"What time is it," She asked, she had no idea how long she had slept.  
"It's 7:10am." He answered after he looked at the time that was displayed on his phone. "Starbucks will open soon, so I will be able to get your favorite seasonal drink."  
"That would be lovely."  
"Is there anything else you need? Do you have enough of supplies?"  
"I got enough of it to go through the time were here. So you don't have to buy anything like that."  
"Okay."  
"You can already go to Starbucks… I'm kind of longing for a large cup of Salted caramel brownie hot chocolate."  
"Will you be alright?"  
"I will just wait here till my medicines start working and then go take a shower. I'll take my phone with me so I can call when needed."

Adrien nodded before he kissed her on her lips and headed out again.

He got at the Starbucks when they just opened the store. He got inside and placed his order of twenty large Salted caramel brownie hot chocolates and a large Chai tea latte. The barista made his order and placed every cup into a bag after Adrien had paid for it. Once that all was done he got back to the hotel, holding four bags.

Marinette in the meantime was able to have a quick shower to freshen herself up. She walked out of the bathroom wearing a pajama shorts and one of Adrien's shirts when Adrien opened the door to their hotel room.

"What did you buy?" She giggled as she looked at all the bags her boyfriend placed on the desktop that stood in the room.  
"Twenty salted caramel brownie hot chocolate for you and a chai tea latte for myself." He said like it was the most normal thing in the world.  
"So many?"

Marinette just stood there dumb founded, she hadn't even ask him to buy so much. She didn't even know if she would be able to drink so much.

"Yeah, you drink a lot of this stuff… especially when it's your first day. And since we got a microwave to reheat it, I thought I would take more than one with me. That way I don't have to go there multiple times."  
"But you just paid one hundred something for hot chocolate."  
"It's alright, don't worry about and just enjoy your drink."

Adrien walked over to her and gave her one large cup to Marinette. Marinette carefully took a sip right away, closing her eyes while enjoying the flavor of the drink. Adrien was putting the other drinks into the fridge so he wouldn't get bad. He then took his own drink and walked to Marinette to guide her to the bed again.

"Let me at least pay half of it." She said as she sat down on the bed.  
"That's not going to happen, don't even try to transfer the money to me because I will just transfer it back to you again."  
"You shouldn't spoil me so much." She said with a giggle.  
"But I love spoiling you from time to time."

Adrien placed a kiss on her temple, causing Marinette to giggle even more.

"Do you want to continue that series we were started on last week?" Adrien asked.  
"We're staying in?" She asked.  
"Of course, I've seen you like this before after all. You might feel alright now due to the medicines, but it can make a 180 degrees turn out of nowhere."  
"You don't mind it to stay in?"  
"I don't. Celebrating Christmas with you, makes my Christmas already perfect."

Marinette Hugged Adrien tightly, she loved him so much. He was so sweet and loving towards her, sometimes she even wondered what she did to even deserve someone like him. She felt her eyes get wet by the tears that began to form in the corner of her eyes.

"I love you… I love you so much…" she said with a sob, her hormones making her more emotional then she intended to be.  
"I love you too." He chuckled as he ran his finger through her hair.


	24. Day 24: Last Christmas

Marinette let out a sign as she looked on the calendar that was hanging on the pink wall in her tiny apartment. Ever since she was little she loved the color pink and she couldn't help but stick to the color once she moved out, However the color was a lot more subtle than it was in her old room. Most walls were just plain white but some of the walls were painted pink to give the apartment some more character.

"Is everything alright Marinette?" Tikki asked as she flew over to her holder.  
"It's almost Christmas…" She sighed again.  
"Don't you always look forward to Christmas?"  
"I did, but not anymore."

Marinette gave one more glance at the calendar before she walked towards her open Kitchen to make some hot chocolate. she took two cups from the kitchen cabinet, one of the cups was just the normal mug size while the other one was a cup a kids tea party set. She had bought it for Tikki so she was able to get to use tableware that was more of her own size. Marinette thought it was quite ironic that the tea party set was white butterfly themed since Tikki gave her the power to purify the Akuma's, So she just had to buy it for that reason.

Tikki had followed her towards the kitchen and helped Marinette with putting the chocolate powder into the cups once Marinette had poured the heated milk in the cups. Of course Tikki put quite a lot of chocolate powder into her own cup, she had a sweet tooth after all.

Marinette had taken both cups in her hands before she walked towards her white couch that was decorated with different shades of pink colored pillows. She placed the cups onto the coffee table that was in front of it before she took a seat.

"You do realize that Alya won't live it down if you don't come to her Christmas party?" Tikki said as she landed on the coffee table behind her cup of hot chocolate.  
"I know… she is my best friend but I really don't want to go…" She said as she took her own cup from the coffee table and blew at the hot liquid before taking a tiny sip.  
"It's because Adrien would be there, isn't it?"

Marinette looked away when Adrien got mentioned. Last Christmas was a mess, a mess she would like to delete from her memories. Sadly she couldn't do and she knew that seeing Adrien after a whole year that those emotions could comeback. The past year she had moved on, or at least that's what she told herself, but due to the fact she just avoided Adrien she had no idea she had really moved on or not.

"You know it's alright if you still haven't moved on completely." Tikki said.  
"It is not alright Tikki… It's been a year, I should have moved on."  
"But you have been crushing on him for five years before you decided to confess on Christmas Eve."  
"This was the most stupid thing I did. Resulting me to be in tears and drinking a whole bottle of Maury wine before I threw up and pass out in the bathroom."

Tikki stayed quiet for a moment when she remembered the moment Marinette had passed out and she couldn't really do anything. Marinette didn't have her phone with her when that happened so she couldn't dial Alya's number to make her worried because Marinette didn't say a thing. Instead she decided to make some noise, pushing the shampoo bottles from the shelf in hope the others would hear it in the living room.

They had heard the loud noise and rushed towards the closed door. Tikki heard Alya calling out her friends name and asked her if she was okay, but the panic soon reached her voice once she didn't get any answers. Nino was the one who had opened the door by force and had carried Marinette to Alya's bedroom after Alya had washed her face with a wet cloth. They soon concluded she just passed out because of the fact she tired herself out by the crying she did, so it wasn't something very life-threatening. But still to Marinette that night was the most embarrassed night in her life.

"Marinette, it won't be that bad this year." Tikki said as she took a sip of her hot chocolate.  
"How would you know that? What if something similar happens?" Marinette asked "I don't want to go through a night like that again... It's embarrassing and I worried everyone…"  
"You shouldn't dwell on the past too much. What happens happened, you can't change it… but you can learn from it."  
"Thanks Tikki." She said and smiled softly at her kwami.

The days few days until the party had passed in the meantime Marinette most likely thought about what Tikki had said. Marinette knew that Tikki had a point. What was done is done. Nothing can be changed what's in the past. Maybe she should just go… running away from her problems and embarrassment isn't going to help her. It would probably make it worse. Maybe this Christmas would be better?

Marinette's phone went of the moment she was getting ready for the party. She had followed Tikki's advice and made herself look pretty so she would feel pretty and feel more confident. Marinette placed the makeup pallet down on her beauty desk before she picked up the phone. It was Alya.

"Hi girl!" Alya greeted her. "I just wanted to check on you if you're still coming."  
"Hi." Marinette greeted back. "I don't really feel like it, but I'm still going…"  
"It's Adrien right? I'm sorry that I have to invite him as well… He is Nino's best friend so I can't really close him out…"  
"It's okay. I just need to face my problems… I guess?"

She wasn't so sure anymore now the time was really getting near. In less than an hour she would be facing Adrien again.

"Hey it's okay. You can take the time you need to face him." Alya said as she had noticed Marinette's doubt. "You can come a bit later, when everyone's already there. I invited more people over this year. It's not only you, Nino, Adrien, Kagami, Luka and I. I invited Rose, Juleka, Mylène, Ivan, Nathaniel, Marc, Alix, Kim, Ondine, Max and even Sabrina."  
"Thanks Alya, you're the best. But I will be arriving on time. If I'm the last one they all will look at me when I get in."  
"Okay girl, do whatever you like-." Alya got cut off by something crashing in the background. "I'm sorry I got to go now. Nino just dropped some of the food for the party. See you in an hour."  
"See you in an hour." Marinette repeated.

With that Alya ended the call. Marinette let out a sigh. She was glad Alya made sure there were more friends over this time. It would make it easier to avoid Adrien if she wasn't ready to face him just yet. Of course she was going to try, but it has been a year since she talked to him for the last time.

She looked at herself into the Mirror, she wore a dark red sleeveless Qipao dress that stopped right above her knees. The dress had silver rhinestones that were put in a beautiful pattern of flowers by her waist. She had put her hair up in a bun on top of her head and wore two silver bracelets around her left wrist. Her eyelids were covered with a natural brown colors and an on point winged eyeliner. She had added a bit of glitter by her eyes as well. Now all that was left for her to do was applying her deep red lipstick.

"Tikki, we're going." Marinette announced as she walked into the living room after she had put her lipstick on.

Tikki was there munching on some Christmas cookies Marinette had baked yesterday. She walked towards the bowl with Christmas cookies and put a few in her small shoulder bag for Tikki.

"You look really pretty Marinette." Tikki complimented as she followed her holder to the front door.  
"Thank you Tikki. I feel a bit better now I've put effort in how I look." Marinette said as she put on her black heels.

Tikki giggled happily, she was glad she was able to help her holder feel better in some way. She flew into Marinette's bag once Marinette had put on her heels and coat. She took her keys and then left the house.

She got at Alya's apartment after a fifteen minute walk. Her nose had become red of the cold, making her wish she hadn't forgotten her scarf. Fortunately for her the apartment building wasn't as cold as the cold December air outside and so she could warm up a little as she waited for the elevator. A ding could be heard before the door opened; she stepped inside it and pressed the button for the sixth floor.

The elevator had sent her up to the right floor and before she knew it she stood in front of Alya's front door, which was decorated with a Christmas wreath that had a small Ladybug and Chat Noir sitting between the branches of the wreath. Marinette could feel her nerves come up. Once she enters, she will see him again. She took a deep breath before she reached out to press the button of the doorbell.

She didn't have to wait that long before the door opened and she got greeted by Alya. Her friend looked beautifully as she wore an orange halter dress. Marinette took of her coat and hung it onto the coat rack.

"Oh. My. Gosh. Girl you look so beautiful!" Alya exclaimed once she saw Marinette's complete outfit. "I totally need to make a picture of you."  
"Thank you." Marinette said a bit shyly. Alya could always get so overly excited about things.

Marinette walked over to the living room as Alya had already speed walked away to get her photo camera. Once she got into the room she saw that a handful of friends had already arrived. Luka and Nino were talking about music on the couch; Luka wore a limited edition Jagged Stone ugly Christmas sweater and black skinny jeans. Nino was completely in contrast of him as he was wearing a dress shirt, neat pants and a bow tie. Nathaniel was sitting near the Christmas tree sketching in his sketchbook, he wearing a dark red dress shirt with his purple pants. Juleka was talking with Rose while both of them held a glass with white wine, Juleka was wearing a long sleeved black dress with lace that came down to her ankles and Rose was wearing a soft pink colored dress that came to just above her knees that was decorated with a pattern of hot pink Christmas candy canes. Marinette was glad that she wasn't the only one that had put on a pretty dress.

"Marinette, can you stand next to the Christmas tree?" Alya asked as she showed her that she had her photo camera by hand.

Marinette nodded and took place next to the Christmas tree that was just like the Christmas wreath Ladybug and Chat Noir themed. She smiled at the camera right before Alya pressed the button and took the picture. After the picture was taken Marinette joined Juleka and Rose with a glass of wine.

As time passed, more people arrived. Mylène and Ivan got in ten minutes after Marinette. They wore matching ugly sweaters and simple jeans. Alya took a picture of the couple by the Christmas tree just like how she did with Marinette, so she assumed that her best friend had taken a picture of everyone. Just some minutes after Ivan and Mylène, Alix, Kim, Ondine and Max joined. Alix, Max and Kim were in neat pants and a dress shirts combined with ugly Christmas ties, Ondine however wore a dark green strapless mermaid dress that matched the color of Kim's ugly Christmas tie. Alya made a picture of the group of friends as well. Marc, Kagami and Sabrina arrived some time later. Marc wore a dark green dress shirt with black skinny jeans, Kagami wore a black pencil dress with a white cardigan on top of it and Sabina wore a purple strapless dress. Again Alya took a picture.

The room had already been crowded as almost everyone had arrived; the only one who had to arrive was Adrien. Marinette was happy he hadn't arrived just yet, however when the doorbell rang a half hour later after Marc, Kagami and Sabrina arrived she knew that that would be Adrien outside the apartment. Alya had walked to the door to greet the last guest to join. Marinette kept silent waiting for Adrien to walk into the living room.

"Oh. My. Gosh." Alya's voice could be heard from the corridor between her laughs. "You look horrible. I mean that suit is so wrong."

Adrien's laughter joined Alya's however Marinette couldn't hear what he was saying. She had frozen completely as she now had to avoid him for the whole night. She hid behind Juleka when she saw Alya coming back in followed by the blond.

"Dude, what are you wearing?" Nino chuckled.  
"I had a photo shoot that just finished ten minutes ago for my father's ugly Christmas suits and I figured that this suit would be good for the occasion." Adrien said as he laughed as well

Marinette looked at Adrien from behind Juleka. He was wearing a bright blue suit that had a pattern of snowmen, snowflakes and presents all over the fabric of the suit. She now understood why Alya was laughing so hard, the suit was hideous.

Marinette could feel her heart speed up and butterflies flutter through her stomach. Why did he even look handsome in such an ugly Christmas suit? She hid behind Juleka again hoping Adrien hadn't seen her.

Unfortunately her ladybug luck wasn't with her tonight. Adrien had spotted her right away and walked over to talk to her. However Marinette quickly excused herself and walked away before Adrien could even start a conversation. The whole night went like that; Marinette kept making excuses to avoid Adrien. She avoided him so much that even the others began to notice.

"I know you don't want anything to do with Adrien tonight, but can you at least try to act normal around him? The poor guy has been trying to talk with you all night long but you keep running away." Alya said. She had taken Marinette by her wrist and pulled her with her towards the kitchen.  
"I can't do that Alya. I'm still not over him and I don't want to fall back to being deeply in love with him. The butterflies that came back to life is already bad enough, I don't want it to become worse than that." She said as she looked down at the floor.  
"I know it's hard, but it's pretty obvious you're avoiding him, everyone will think its weird behavior you're showing since you used to have a huge crush on him. They will eventually ask questions about it, and I don't think that is something you would want to happen."

Marinette shook her head. If there was something she didn't wanted to happen it was that she had to explain that the reason of her avoiding Adrien was because she had given her heart to Adrien on Christmas Eve and that he had rejected her. Which resulted her in being emotionally drunk towards Adrien, asking him why he didn't loved her. Alya trying to get her put in her bed to sleep off the drunkenness, which Marinette protested to in a way a six year old would do when they didn't get something they wanted. Once she was finally in Alya's bed she got sick and rushed towards the toilet only to throw up and pass out on the cold ground.

"Just give me a moment on my own… I will get back later and hopefully I'm able to act normally around him." Marinette said after a while.  
"That's alright girl. It will be fine." Alya said and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You're strong you know that? You'll be able to get through it."  
"Thanks Alya."

Both girls got back into the living room. Alya got over to her guests to check if everyone was still enjoying themselves, while Marinette walked towards the balcony door. She was so in her own thoughts that she walked passed Adrien who was once again trying to talk to Marinette.

The past year had been tough for him. He always had thought that Ladybug was the love of his life. He was convinced that she was the only one who could have his heart. That was why he rejected Marinette last Christmas. It hurt him to see Marinette break down in front of him when he told her he liked someone else; it hurt him to see Marinette getting emotionally drunk. Her desperate cries of why he couldn't love her still haunted him and seeing her down like this worried him like crazy. He was afraid she would get to the Alcohol again. Seeing her passed out on the floor once was already one time too many.

However as the year passed by he came to realize that it wasn't Ladybug who has his heart, it was Marinette. Her absence in his life and all the excuses to avoid him was enough to make him realize that, after all you'll realize how much someone means to you once that person isn't there for you anymore. Tonight he had hoped it went well and that he was able to talk to Marinette. That maybe they could still get together, but that was just stupidly wishful thinking.

He looked at her through the windows of the balcony door. She was leaning on the railing staring at probably nothing in particular and probably not caring that she would get sick if she continues to stand outside when it was less than -3 degrees Celsius.

He wanted to cheer her up, be he knew he couldn't do that as Adrien. So he slipped away from the crowded room and walked towards the Alya's work room. He had been here before and knew that the room she used to work at on the Ladyblog had a big window he could easily use to get out without anyone seeing him. Once he got into the room he transformed into Chat Noir, he knew it was risky to transform in Alya's apartment but had no other choice. He opened the window before he climbed out of the room and onto the roof.

Marinette was shivering as the cold wind hit her skin. She really should had put on her jacket first before she got outside, but she couldn't get back in to get it now. Tears had fallen down her cheeks as she sniffed softly in the quiet night. She should just had called in sick this night, the only thing she had to deal with then was a nagging kwami that told her she shouldn't run away from her problems, not some heartache because of some guy that doesn't even like her like that. Maybe she should just go home, there was no way she would even be able to enjoy the rest of the night when a handsome blond was walking around in the most hideous Christmas suit she had ever seen.

"A princess shouldn't be out here on her own while the others are having fun inside." She heard to oh so familiar voice of her partner Chat Noir.  
"I guess I'm not a princess then kitty." She said letting out a sad laugh.

She didn't even mind to try to hide her sadness from the hero. He was her partner and she trusted him with her life. Maybe he would be able to cheer her up, or just having him near her was already good enough. He understood her feelings after all. Chat Noir landed next to her after he noticed she had been crying. He looked at her with concern.

"Are you alright?" He asked  
"I've been better…" She said and let out a sigh. "If I'm completely honest I didn't want to go in the first place but my friend talked me into it…"  
"Why don't you want to go? To me it seems to be pretty fun."

Marinette followed Chat Noir's gaze as he looked inside through the window. Everyone was still there, talking, laughing, eating and drinking together.

"Last Christmas was pretty much an embarrassing mess…" She said as she looked back at the Parisian skyline. "I can tell you what happened but you have to promise not to laugh okay?"  
"I promise."

Marinette took a deep breath. She trusted Chat Noir and maybe it would be helpful to talk about the situation with someone who isn't involved with it.

"You see there's this boy I like a lot, He is one of my friends by the way, I confessed to him last year. Unfortunately he didn't felt the same way and rejected me… I wish he was just an ass while doing so, than at least I had a reason to dislike him. Instead he was very kind and explained to me he already liked someone else and that he was sorry he couldn't return my feelings because of that." Marinette said and paused for a moment. "I was so sure of myself that he felt the same way, that the fact he didn't hit me pretty hard. I ended up in tears and got my hands on the alcohol. My best friend tried to get the wine away from me but without much success. I was able to drink a whole bottle, causing me to get pretty drunk… After that I don't remember much but I got told I was crying hysterically, that I cried out to my crush why he couldn't love me. I was such a mess, being emotionally drunk and acting like a kid as my best friend tried to put me to bed. Eventually I ended up passed out in the bathroom, worrying everyone and ruining the night. It was so embarrassing…"

Chat Noir looked at her with a soft smile on his face, he felt flattered that Marinette trusted him enough to tell him her side of the story. Hopefully it would also give some more information on why she was behaving the way she does around his civilian self.

"I just felt so embarrassed to face him again, that I started to avoid him as much as I can. This was a success until tonight. I haven't seen him for a year and I really thought I had moved on from him, but the moment I saw him rocking that ugly Christmas suit… it all came back…" she sniffed as fresh tears threatened to fall down again. "I don't want to fall back in love again… I don't want to be rejected again…"  
"Maybe he had changed his mind?" Chat Noir asked as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder pulling her closer to him.  
"I doubt that… we haven't seen or spoken each other for a year…" she said as she slowly wrapped her arms around Chat Noir's waist in a side hug. "And even if he did… it wouldn't matter, I'm not falling for him again."

Chat Noir could feel his heart speed up and sunk at the same time. It speed up because of the sudden hug, it sunk because she didn't want to give his civilian self a second chance.

"Maybe you'll be able to find someone else special soon..." He said  
"Maybe I've already found that someone…" she said as she snuggled closer.

Because of Adrien she hadn't seen Chat Noir in that way, while he was the person she trusted the most. Maybe she should have given him a chance way sooner, maybe then she didn't had to experience such a mess of a Christmas a year ago.

"And who may that special person be?" Chat asked playfully, his heart beating fastly as he hoped that she would reply with that he was that special someone.  
"What would you do if I told you if you would be that special someone?" she asked softly as she looked up at him.

She tried to read his expression, tried to look for anything that could give her a sign that she won't go back down the same road she did the year before. She blushed slightly as he pulled her into a hug, pressing her back against the railing of the balcony. He leaned in towards her ear before he said softly.

"I would gladly be that special someone… because… I like you Marinette. I've liked you for a while..."

Marinette blushed even more as she quickly hid her face into Chat Noir's chest. Her heart was beating at the speed of light. He liked her, he liked her. Chat Noir chuckled at Marinette's reaction before he placed a kiss on top of her head.

"You look beautiful tonight." He complimented her. Marinette looked up and smiled at him.  
"You too." She said, causing Chat Noir to chuckle.

She knew that it wouldn't work with Adrien, he saw her as just a very good friend anyways. So there isn't much hope left for the future. So maybe that giving Chat Noir a chance would lead to good things? Of course she wouldn't be sure for 100% but she was willing to take the risk and give Chat Noir the chance to have her heart.


End file.
